


On Collision Course

by krissixh



Series: Collision. [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crimes & Criminals, Don Erwin Smith, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mafia AU, Mafia Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Modern Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Multi, levihan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 34,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27049915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krissixh/pseuds/krissixh
Summary: Hanji is a science professor at the University of Trost. She gets sucked into the underground crime world after a short, grumpy Mafioso pays her a visit, demanding that she now has to work for the Recon Corps. The Corps, led by Don Smith, are the most dreaded criminal organization in town.Levi seems to develop an interest in the new scientist and finds himself letting his guard down around her. Meanwhile, information about important deals starts getting leaked to the police. In an attempt to find the mole, Levi suddenly gets confronted with a ghost from the past, dragging the Recon Corps straight into a war.*SNK Mafia-AU
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager, Levi/Hange Zoë, Nanaba/Mike Zacharias
Series: Collision. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974268
Comments: 8
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the first part of my SNK Mafia-AU. 
> 
> It had been posted here a few years ago, but I hadn't been very active and I guess it got deleted sometime.

A knock on the door made Hanji look up from her work.  
“Come in!” She shouted but the door remained closed. The woman sighed, put her security goggles away and went to open the door.

There were a young blonde woman and a tall man with a blonde ponytail standing a few steps in front. Hanji couldn’t remember that she has ever seen them at the university before. Or was she mistaking and those two were students after all? 

“Professor Zoe?” the woman asked.

“Yes, that’s me”, Hanji said friendly; “How can I help you?”

“We’re from the Recon Corps and we need you to, well, do some work for us”, the woman answered, equally friendly.

 _Recon Corps?_ At first Hanji thought that they were kidding. The Recon Corps was the most dreaded Mafia Organisation in the whole country. Hanji has heard a lot of rumours about them. She couldn’t think about a day in the past year where they weren’t topics of conversations at the news and local papers. Even if the woman would be lying; why would such a criminalistics organisation seek help from her? After all she was just a normal professor.

“Sorry kids, but I don’t have time for your jokes,” Hanji responded angrily.

She couldn’t even finish her sentence properly when she got a heavy punch in her stomach. Hanji sacked to the floor pained, panting for air. Was there someone standing next to the door all along? She felt a hand grabbing her ponytail and ripping it back so that she had to look up. The first thing Hanji got to see was a pair of dark eyes staring at her gloomily.

“Listen, Miss Scientist. We didn’t come here to ask you if you have time for us or not. You’ll have to do it if you don’t want us to hurt you.”

Despite the fact that this short guy with raven hair was threatening her, his voice was calm; _like he was talking about the weather or something_. Finally he loosened his grip. “Now get your ass back in your laboratory. We don’t want someone to see us here, do we?”

Hanji stood up like she was hypnotized. She thought that those kids were joking, but this guy surely was a Mafia member. It wouldn’t surprise her if he was the boss in person.

“I told you to get back in you lab, didn’t I?” he said severe and pushed her through the open door back in the room. Although he was smaller than her, he had an incredible strength. He entered as well, closing the door behind him. The other two stayed outside. _So he is indeed some kind of leader_ – Hanji thought.

“What a mess”, he stated looking around, before he sat down on the only chair in the room. Hanji still didn’t move from the spot he pushed her to.  
_What the hell was going on?  
_He glanced at her, amusement in his look. “Won’t sit down to talk, Miss Scientist?”

Hanji shook her head, barely noticeable. “What do you want from me?” She asked confused.

“Coming right to the point, huh?” He made a face as he was disappointed. “And here I thought we could have a nice chitchat,” he sighed. “So, our scientist - well let’s put it like this - ‘was fired’ before he could finish his work. Now we need a new one”, he explained with a calm voice, but a strange glow in his look.

Hanji gulped. This ‘was fired’ sounded like ‘was murdered’ in her ears.  
“Why me?” She tried to keep her shaking voice under control. Being alone with this man made her feel uneasy.

“Because you’re some kind of modern Einstein, aren’t you. The youngest chemistry major this university ever had.” He rummaged around in the pocket of his leather jacket while talking. Finally he took out his cigarette.

“Smoking is forbidden in the lab,” Hanji said automatically, immediately regretting her words. She bit her tongue. For god’s sake, this guy hit her with no hesitation just a minute ago and now she was lecturing him about the smoking rules from the school. _Like he would care!_

The guy just smirked, lighting up his cigarette. “You have guts, trying to forbid me something, Miss Scientist!”

The way he pronounced ‘ _Miss Scientist_ ’ made Hanji tremble. He stood up and stepped in front of her, blowing the smoke in her face.

“Do you know where the ‘Emperor’ hotel is?” he asked.

Hanji just nodded, trying her best not to chough. The smoke irritated her eyes, making them tear up. She wasn’t used to smoke since neither she, nor her boyfriend, were smoking.

“My boss has the annoying rule that he wants to meet everyone who’s not a member of the Corps; to see if they are trustworthy enough to work for us. But don’t worry; the ones’ I pick usually don’t get shot after the dinner.”  
He paused. Just by looking at her you could tell that she was scared.  
“8 p.m.; be punctual and just ask for Levi.” he added.

Hanji nodded, although she couldn’t say if he noticed it, since her whole body was shaking.

“Good girl!” Levi turned around, walking to the door. He stopped in front, before opening it.

“Before I forget it: Don’t get any stupid ideas. We know everything about you. And if you make the boss angry, I won’t make only you, but also your boyfriend suffer. I don’t mind him, but I wouldn’t want to hurt you, unless I really need to.”

With those words he walked out. Hanji stood there motionless for a minute, before she sacked down on the floor. Silent tears were running down her face and her body was still trembling. Just the thought that this scary guy knew everything about her life made her feel like she had to vomit.

/


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Tell him that he should be at the 'Emperor' in one hour. I've found a scientist," Levi told him.

„Hanji! You look pale, did anything happen to you?"  
This was the first thing Hanji heard from her boyfriend when she got home. He stood in the small kitchen, with a terrified expression.

The woman sighed.

They met each other 7 years ago, when they were in college. She didn't really have a lot of friends, since people considered her crazy. But this guy was always running after her, not questioning her strange habits. Back then he was her only friend. Both of them started working at the same university 3 years ago. And last year he confessed her his feelings. Hanji still wasn't sure if she was a girl who's suitable for a relationship, since she often neglects people around her. But this guy was tough; he didn't care much about this, since it was 'a part of her personality'.

"No, Moblit, I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous because tonight I'll meet a new … business partner." She smiled, trying to signalize him that everything was alright.

"Oh, who is it?", he asked curiously.

Hanji looked at him. She didn't know what to answer. _Oh, it's the Mafia!_ \- would definitely sound wrong.  
"I don't know yet … I just met one of his workers," she stuttered, trying not to think about the short, grumpy man in her lab.

"Where are you going to meet with them?", Moblit continued asking.

That was one of the things Hanji loved and hated about him at the same time. Since she always talked much it was nice that there was somebody who'd actually listen to her and ask her for more details. But today it was tiring.

"To the 'Emperor' hotel," she replied him.

"Emperor? Wow, that's the most expensive hotel in the area! Your new partner must be rich. Do you know what dinner costs there?" He was totally impressed.

"I'm sorry, honey. But I need to take a shower and get ready now." She gave him a half-heartedly smile, before she left the kitchen.  
She didn't even know what she should wear for tonight. She didn't have clothes which were elegant enough for the 'Emperor'.

/

A motorbike stopped with screeching tires in front of the 'Titan'-nightclub. The driver supported the weight of the machine on his right leg, not turning the bike off. At the same time a tall, blonde man with designer stubble stepped out.  
"Levi! How can I help you?" the blonde mumbled, with a cigarette between his lips.

"God dammit, Mike. How often do I have to tell you: Get the fucking cigarette out while you're talking to me!", the driver replied grumpily, propping the helmets visor up; "Anyway, do you know where Erwin is?"

Mike pointed at the building he just came out: "He's inside."

"What the hell are you guys even doing in a nightclub in the afternoon?" the short man asked, uncomprehending.

"I carried out some modifications inside. Wanna come in and see it?"

"Tell him that he should be at the 'Emperor' in one hour; I've found a scientist," Levi told him, ignoring Mike's question. Since Erwin put Mike in care of the club, he had reconstructed it a few times. Levi didn't care about the whole decoration, as long as the money they were earning from it was right.

"Why don't you go inside and tell it him yourself?" Mike asked him.

  
"Because, compared to you, I have a job to take care of," Levi replied harshly, putting the visor down. With those words he drove away.

/

Just as Hanji finished her make-up, someone rang on the door. The woman glanced at the mirror. Usually, she didn't wear make-up, or dresses. The only dress in her possession was a dark green silk dress, which ended just over her knees. Her reflection seemed strange to her.  
"Hanji, they've sent you a driver!", Moblit told her impressed, after opening the door.

Hanji gulped as she recognized the man who visited her with Levi that morning.

  
"Good evening, Madam. I'm Erd and I'll be your driver tonight," the blonde introduced himself with a charming smile. "Ready to leave?"

"I like your dress", Erd said as they were sitting in the car. It was an expensive-looking Audi with black leather seats inside; "Did you pick the colour on purpose?"

"What do you mean on purpose?" Hanji asked confused.

In the rear-view mirror she could see Erd grinning. "It's nothing" , he said and for the rest of the drive neither of them spoke a word.

When they arrived at the hotel, Erd even opened the door for her.  
"I'll accompany you to Mr. Smith's suite", he explained, leading her inside the hotel. She followed him, wondering why he was that nice and polite towards her. As the elevator stopped on the last floor, Erd didn't exit, though. "Just go straight ahead, the dining room is behind that door," he said, pointing towards it.

When Hanji stepped closer to the ajar door, she could hear Levi's voice coming from the room. However, she couldn't understand what he was talking, since it wasn't in English. Curiously, she stepped closer, glancing through the half open door. He was standing in front of a glass wall, holding his mobile and facing a stunning skyline of the city. Hanji recognized the language; he was talking in, as French. She stood there and listened, amazed by his voice. It seemed much calmer.

 _Well, maybe just because it's not in English_ ; she thought; _Right now he could be giving instructions to kill somebody_! - Hanji tried to convince herself, annoyed that she was charmed by his voice.

"Aren't you going to come in?", he suddenly said in English; making Hanji jump away from the door-frame. He put his phone away, coming towards the door, opening it completely.

"Did no one teach you that you mustn't eavesdrop?" he asked, with a provoking undertone.

"It's not that I understood anything", Hanji mumbled, turning her blushing face away.

He mustered her with his gloomy look. However, Hanji could spot a spark of delectableness in it too. She felt like a prey being mustered by his hunter. With a nod he signalized her to enter the room.

"You sure are an interesting woman," Levi whispered as she sat down at the table, handing Hanji a glass of wine. His breath being that close to her skin made her shiver.  
It turned out, that Mr. Smith, the Don, had been in the room as well the whole time since she came. Hanji however was only focused on Levi and his voice that she hadn't noticed him. She felt visibly uneasy between the two men, even though Smith didn't seem like a mafia member at all. He seemed more like a friendly CEO to her.

"So, Hanji," Smith started with a gentle voice. "You're working at the university, aren't you?"

  
Hanji just nodded, she was afraid that her voice would break if she tried to speak.

  
"Not feeling like chatting, huh?", he commented, as she didn't enter his try to small talk.

"Told you, she's a tough woman, who has no time for chatting and comes straight to the business", Levi explained to Smith, just like Hanji wasn't in the room.

The Don just nodded; "Seems so."

"Well then, Hanji. Want to talk about your job for us now, or do you have time until after the dinner?"

/


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then he added: “Anyway, why are you so obsessed with this girl?”

The first thing that Hanji noticed was the cold piercing through her body. She couldn’t see anything, but she could tell that she was lying on the floor, her hands tied uncomfortably on her back. The woman tried to get up, but a sudden pain in her shoulder made her stop. " _Would someone hear me, if I scream?",_ she wondered.

“It seems like the woman woke up,” she heard a voice. _So there was someone in the room._  
“Doesn’t look awake,” another voice countered.   
“I could swear she just tried to get up.”  
“So what if she did? We have orders not to touch her, so shut up already.”

Then, silence. Hanji couldn’t tell how long she was lying there like that, until she heard a door being opened. 

“What the fuck is she doing on the floor?” The new voice was a familiar one. It was Levi’s. She heard footsteps coming towards her. “Oi, Miss Scientist, are you awake?”

“Mhm.”

Although she couldn’t see anything, she could _feel_ his amused look on her. The next thing she felt was a tight grip on her arm, dragging her up. Then the blindfold was removed. She had to blink a few times until her eyes got used to the light in the room. The first thing she got to see in front of her was Levi, with a knife in his hands. “Don’t worry, I just want to release your hands,” he said.

“Now,” Levi started, turning around to the two other two people, who were in the room before he got in; “who the hell did this to her?”

The two men in front of him were scared stiff. “We … we just tried to obey the orders from above,” one of them stuttered. 

Levi stepped closer to them. “I don’t remember ordering you such a thing.” Levi’s voice sounded furious.

“No, but Mr. …” the other guy tried to say something, but he was too slow. Levi’s fist punched him in the stomach, making the guy fall to the floor. Unintentionally Hanji remembered how he had done the same thing to her.

“Now listen, you scum. Don’t you fucking dare to come even close to her, understood? She is under my control and my protection. The next time you do something to her and it wasn’t me who ordered you so, I’ll kill you,” he snarled.

Then he turned back to Hanji. “I’ll drive you home.”

In the car, she was afraid to even look at him. She couldn’t even remember what had happened. The last thing in her memory was the dinner with Levi and his boss and after that stepping outside from the hotel.

“You shouldn’t have refused my offer to drive you home after dinner,” he said suddenly, breaking the silence in the car. 

Hanji finally managed to look in his direction. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Look, I can’t always run around to save your ass," he just said. 

Then again, silence until he stopped in front of her building. “Do you know where the “Titan” is?”, he asked before she opened the door. 

Hanji looked at him, confused; “The nightclub?”

Levi rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed. “Are there other buildings named like that?”

“No. I just don’t get it, why you'd bring up a club now,” she stuttered.

He leaned to her side. “Because, sweetheart, there’s a pretty meth-lab in the cellar,” he whispered conspiratorial. “Tomorrow, 4 p.m. don’t you dare being late!” 

As she stood on the sidewalk, looking at his BMW driving away, Hanji tried to convince herself that her heart was beating faster because of the shocking experience from tonight, and not from Levi’s _sweetheart_.

/

Levi was sitting at the bar in the “Titan”. Mike was behind the counter, cleaning glasses. Nanaba, Mike’s first assistant was sitting on the bar stool next to Levi.

“I don’t get it why you’re so upset,” she told him. In the time waiting for Hanji, he had told them about what happened the day before. “You know that they catch every potential new member, and keep them in the base, waiting for Smith’s approval to let them free or to make them disappear,” the woman reminded Levi of the procedure he should be familiar with.

Levi harrumphed, taking another sip of his drink. “Since when do we throw them on the floor? The last time my squad was in charge of this, we let them sit on chairs,” he mocked.

Mike giggled, pouring more whiskey in Levi’s glass. “They had a guy who tried to escape. He fell down, including the chair, and broke his arm,” he said. Then he added: “Anyway, why are you so obsessed with this girl?”

Levi just gave him a killing glance, looking at his phone. “She’s late.”

Nanaba leaned over to him, so that she could see the display as well.   
“5 whole minutes. Somehow I like this girl. She’s the first one that doesn’t obey you completely and she’s still alive,” she said cheekily.

“If he would kill every person that pissed him off, he’d have killed you a long time ago,” Mike barged in.

“He’s right,” Levi nodded and finished his drink.

  
“Oh come on! I know that Shorty loves me,” Nanaba laughed and hugged him.   
  


/

Since she could remember, Hanji was an unpunctual person. It’s not that she did it on purpose, but sometimes it happened that she simply overlooked the time. Like now. She ran down the street like an idiot, ignoring the stitch in her side, gasping for air. Finally she could see the ‘Titan’ in front of her. Although Hanji had never been there, she knew that it was very popular. But now, at the bright daylight, it seemed abandoned.

She stopped in front of the door, looking up on the building. She wondered if they were very angry at her for being late. Well, Levi surely was.

“Just grit your teeth and do it,” she mumbled to herself and stepped in.

/


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Won’t you step inside?”, he asked, his look fixed on Hanji.
> 
> Hanji gulped and took the last step. Slowly she walked towards the other chairs, looking around in the room.
> 
> “Impressed?” Levi asked her as she finally sat down next to him.

When you’re going to a club, you’d normally think that there were drinks stored in the cellar, maybe some old furniture too. But who would think that there was an ultra-modern laboratory. Hanji stopped at the last stair, looking around in the room. The walls of the room were white, and so clean that she was afraid they would blind her, if she looked at them for longer than a few seconds. The workstation with a big sink took over the most part of the room, and there were two mobile cabinets in the corner. The equipment on the desk was neatly arranged.

Levi sat down on one of the stools beside the workstation. With his black hair and dark clothes he didn’t fit into the spotless white room at all.

“Won’t you step inside?”, he asked, his look fixed on Hanji.

Hanji gulped and took the last step. Slowly she walked towards the other chairs, looking around in the room.

“Impressed?” Levi asked her as she finally sat down next to him.

She nodded. “And what am I supposed to do here?”

Levi sighed, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. “Never in the mood for a nice chat, are you?”

Hanji looked at him and, for the first time since she had met him, she smiled. It was amusing, that he always acted that insulted when she asked something about _work_.  
“Technically speaking, talking about my job is also some kind of chatting,” she said meekly.

Levi cocked his head, a mixture of huff and astonishment at the same time in his look. “Oh god, why did I accepted to deal with this shit?”, he mumbled.

He stood up and went to one of the cabinets, taking out a notebook. “Well, what do you know about the Recon Corps?”

“Not really much,” Hanji admitted. “I guess you deal with drugs and kill people?”

“Well, the drug dealing is the biggest part. We control a big-ass percentage of the drug traffic worldwide. The killing part, however, isn’t really our profession.” He paused for a second and closed the cabinet-door. “We eliminate just the annoying ones,” he added provokingly and looked her straight in the eyes.

It could be that Levi excepted her to be shocked by such a statement, but all that Hanji could do, was to grin at him.  
“So you’re a drug dealer?” she asked, ignoring his last statement.

Levi shook his head: “No, that’s the job of the lower ranks. Mike and Nanaba, the two you met upstairs, control the dealers. My squad is in charge of the arms deal and we keep the members under control.”

Now he was standing next to her, putting the notebook on the table. “Here are the notes from our last scientist. Read them and tell me later if you’re able to do it or not.”

With those words he walked towards the stairs. “I’ll send Nanaba down to help you. Arrange it among yourselves when you’ll start your work.”

When he closed the door behind him, Hanji let out a deep-drawn sigh. Once again, she wondered how the hell she even ended up here. She run over the pages of the notebook in front of her and immediately let out another sigh. They were all scrawled with formulas and nearly indecipherable notes next to them. Hanji took out her phone and sent Moblit a message, not to wait for her with dinner. She had a feeling that this would be a long night, just trying to decipher the scribbling.

Eventually Nanaba came down with two cups of coffee. The blonde woman was much nicer than Levi and explained Hanji the details of their work more precise. After three hours, they managed to get an overview of the first pages.

“For the beginning, we just need the ones described on the first six pages. Do you think you can do it?” Nanaba asked curiously.

Hanji looked at the page in front of her again. The whole book was full with “ _recipes_ ” for all kinds of drugs Hanji never had heard of. However, the formulas from the first pages weren’t a big deal for someone with Hanji’s degree. It wouldn’t be that difficult to make them.

Hanji could say no. She could stick to her morals. She had a vow with herself, that she wouldn’t do illegal stuff. _For fucks’ sake; she didn’t even download music illegally and now they’re asking for this._

She could just say no and walk away from this mad cellar.

“I can try it.”

She could have said no, but there was this indescribable longing not to do so.

/

Levi was sitting with Erwin in the Don’s suite at the “Emperor”. Levi just wanted to light up another cigarette, when his mobile beeped.

“Any good news?” Erwin asked, looking up from his laptop.

“Hanji said yes,” Levi said with a snooty smirk.

Erwin leaned back in his chair, adjusting his tie. “One problem less. You did a good job finding her.”

“We still don’t know if she’ll do a good job,” he reminded Erwin. It bugged Levi that Erwin considered the job as completed, before she even started it.  
“Anyway, we have other problems now. It could be that the MP knows about the deal with the Chinese Mafia," Levi said and his gaze wandered to the glass wall. The last days had been misty and it affected his bad mood even more. “At least they know where the transfer location is. They’re observing it.”

“And how are they supposed to know that?”, Erwin asked surprised. There were only a few people within the Corps that knew that there should be a big deal with the Chinese coming up.

Levi shrugged his shoulders. “I have Erd and Auruo in charge to find this out.”

Erwin nodded and closed his laptop. “We mustn’t muddle this one. You know how important it is.”He looked at the Rolex around his wrist.  
“I have a meeting. Look to settle this matter.”

/


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gunther didn’t ask his boss since when he was so eager to go to Mike’s club. He knew that Levi had said numerous times that this club was a total nonsense. But in the last days he spent a suspiciously long time there; and this in the afternoon, when it wasn't even open.

In the whole city of Trost there were only five abandoned, run-down buildings left, due to the Mayor’s ambition to turn Trost into the most modern and powerful city in the whole region. For the townspeople the sky-scrapers and the numerous hotels may be a good thing, but for Levi they were simply a pest. Indeed, you have a better overview of the area from high buildings, but so did the police as well.

Levi observed two undercover-agents entering an office block with suspicious-looking suitcases. The office block was across from one of the five abandoned buildings, which turned out to be – _what a coincidence!_ – the transfer location for the big deal with the Chinese Mafia. The Recon Corps had been using the building for the last years, because the citizens literally _ignored_ it. Levi wondered how the police had found out about it just now.

“I don’t get it, Sir,” Gunther said. He was sitting on the drivers’ seat of Levi’s BMW X5, drumming his fingers on the wheel. “How can you be sure that the MP knows about the deal?”

“Have you seen the two guys that just entered the building?” Levi asked, pointing towards it.

“Yes. But couldn’t it be that they’re just normal employees?”

Levi shook his head with a light smirk. “The taller on with the poor fitting suite was Nile Dawk. He’s the Special-Agent in Charge of the Mafia. However, it seems like they only know the location, but not the date. They’re observing the buildings for three days in a row with the whole team on standby.”

He put away his binoculars and fastened his seat belt – the sign for Gunther that he could drive away.

“We’ll have to change the location,” he said as they passed the block where the MP just disappeared into.

“But they’ll get suspicious if we don’t show up to check the building soon,” Gunter objected.

“You mean that we should pretend like we don’t know anything about them and that the deal will take place here?”, Levi asked him.

“Yes, some kind of deception while the real deal is taking place somewhere else,” the driver said while filtering into the traffic on the boulevard for the inner city.

“Sounds good to me!”, Levi said impressed. “Can you plan this one and drop me off at the ‘Titan’? You can keep the car.”

“Sure.” Gunther didn’t ask his boss since when he was so eager to go to Mike’s club. He knew that Levi had said numerous times that this club was a total nonsense. But in the last days he spent a suspiciously long time there; and this in the afternoon, when it wasn't even open.

/

Hanji stood next to Mike in the cellar and looked down on the pink powder on the tablet in front of them.   
“Ehm … Is this supposed to be pink?” she asked him, confused.

Mike bent down a little and sniffed a few times. “Normally not, but …” The blonde licked his finger and dunked it in the powder. He raised the finger and starred on the pink powder sticking on it, sniffing again. “It smells like it normally should.”

Hanji scratched her head, trying to remember if she had done anything wrong. As long as she could remember, she had done everything according the formula in the notebook.

“Guess who’s here!” They suddenly heard Nanaba’s voice. Automatically they turned their heads towards the stairs. Nanaba was coming down with Levi in tow.

“I just came to check if the lab is still in good order,” he said with his usual uninterested tone.

“Sure you are,” Mike said with a grin.“Look, we have pink powder,” he added and stretched his finger in their direction.

“Isn’t it supposed to be white?”, Nanaba asked and looked at it with a confused mien.

“Yes, but this one smells just like it normally should,” Mike said, still holding his arm stretched out.

Hanji didn’t know how she expected Nanaba to react, but surely not the way the blonde woman just did. Nanaba just grabbed Mike’s hand and licked the powder off his finger.   
“It tastes like it should,” she declared with a victorious grin, turning to Hanji: “Good job!”

“You two just made her feel awkward with your stupid behaviour,” Levi said annoyed. He went to the table, inspecting, not the powder; but the surface of the workstation and the equipment. “What a mess!” he rented with a frowning mien.

“Don’t you have a deal to plan instead of inspecting the lab?”, Nanaba asked him cheekily.

He just harrumphed, giving her a disapproving glance. “You talk too much, Blondie.”

Hanji looked between them and she couldn’t understand what the hell was going on. While Levi had a terrifying mien, Nanaba just grinned at him. Was he mad because the woman mentioned the deal in front of Hanji? _He wouldn’t have any reason, though; it’s not like I can go to the police and tell them_ – Hanji thought.   
She turned to Mike, taking of her lab coat. “I’ll go now, if you don’t need anything else?”

The blonde man looked at Levi and Nanaba, who now started a heated debate, and then back to Hanji. “You know what, I’ll drive you home.”

/

Levi was so concentrated on Nanaba that he didn’t notice that Hanji was packing her stuff to go home. As he finally understood the situation, the woman was already heading for the stairs with Mike. 

“I’ll drive Hanji home. Make sure not to destroy the lab while fighting,” the blonde said.

“Ah, dammit!” Levi sat down on the workstation and took out a cigarette.

“You’re pissed off because you wanted to drive her home?”, Nanaba asked and sat down next to him, accepting the cigarette Levi offered her wordlessly. That was one thing about their friendship she liked the most; they often fought about the most ridiculous things, but he never bore such a grunge against her that he wouldn’t offer her a cigarette.

He passed her the lighter as well, wondering if he should talk to her or not. In the end, he decided to do so. “Is it that obvious?”

“So you do like her? I knew it!”, she said enthusiastically and clapped him on the shoulder.

“She’s … interesting,” he said. “But; if you tell this anyone, I’ll reveal _your_ little secret and kill you after that. And this time it’s not an empty threat.”

Nanaba laughed and jumped down of the table. “I wouldn’t dare to do so, Shorty. Now let’s get a drink before Mike comes back!”

/

“Special Agent Dawk,” Nile answered his phone.

“They’re changing the location of the deal,” the voice on the other line said.

The Agent looked at the laptop which showed a video of three masked men coming out of a black BMW. The MP had hid monitoring cameras in the underground garage of the building.

“I don’t think so. Right now they’re checking the location,” he said angrily. What was the purpose of having a mole in the Mafia, when he received wrong information from them?

The voice on the other line sneered. “Fine, then stay there and observe a building where nothing will happen tonight.”

“No, wait!” Nile almost shouted in his mobile, to prevent the other from hanging up. “Tell me where the real deal will take place.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, but I heard that the Recon Corps have suffered some damage as well,” Jacob pointed out.  
> “I heard that the MP managed to injure the leader of the deal deadly. He may have escaped, but there’s no way he’d stay alive after three shots in the chest.”

„Hanji?“ Moblits voice snapped Hanji out of her thoughts. She looked around, as if she had to remember where she was. She had been sitting in front of the TV, but somehow she hadn't been able to concentrate on the show she was watching, her thoughts were drifting off. 

“Sorry, what did you just say?”, she asked. 

“Can you change the channel? I want to see the news,” he said as he sat down next to her.

The woman nodded and gave him the remote. He’d always watch the 11 p.m. news before he went to bed. Since Hanji thought that it was boring she stood up and went towards bedroom; she had to get up early after all.

“ _Good evening, my name is John Waters and you’re watching the Chanel 1 news. The headlines of tonight: Earthquake in Japan. Another Civil war in Syria? And as we just heard about: 3 dead at swoop on the Mafia in Trost_ …”

Hanji was about to close the door when she heard the last one. _Swoop on the Mafia_? She froze on the spot. No, it couldn’t be! Unintentionally she remembered what Nanaba said to Levi at the lab. “ _Don’t you have a deal to plan?_ ”   
She busted out of the bedroom, stumbling towards the living room where the TV stood. Her noisy entrance made Moblit jump off the sofa in fear.   
“Hanji? What is it?”

She stopped in front of the TV, where they showed pictures of armours and soldiers.   
“Was the report about the Mafia on?” she asked hysterically.   
  
“What? No … Why?” Moblit asked with a confused voice.

But Hanji ignored his question and continued starring on the TV.  
 _Oh god, what if something has happened to Levi or Mike and Nanaba?_ She didn’t even notice that she was trembling.   
“Oh, fuck you! Who cares about the gas-prize?” she shouted as they brought that report instead of the one about the swoop.

“ _And the following news just came in: One hour ago the MP of Trost broke a deal between the Recon Corps and the Chinese Mafia. We know from a reliable source that the MP, under the direction of Special Agent Nile Dawk, managed to arrest some members of both Mafias. Unfortunately it came to an exchange of fire. As our source confirms, there are three dead and several seriously injured … Now to the sports with Andrew Braun_.”

/

Moblit couldn’t understand what in the world was going on when his girlfriend broke down in tears in front of the TV.

/

When Levi opened his eyes, he found himself on the sofa in Erwin’s suite. He felt an inhuman pain piercing through his body as he got up.

“Corporal! Thanks heavens, you’re alright,” he heard Petra’s voice coming from the door. He looked towards it and saw her and Erwin entering.

“I told you to cut out the ‘Corporal’,” he said and grimaced in pain. The ‘Corporal’ was a nickname the media had given him some years ago and his squad used to call him like that, but they eventually stopped it – except for Petra.   
Levi looked down on his body, only to find his chest covered with blood-soaked bandages. _Oh, fuck it!_

Erwin grabbed a chair and placed it right in front of Levi. He sat down on it with an angry mien. Petra stopped next to him and looked anxiously at Levi’s chest.  
“The deal was a complete disaster,” Erwin said with an angst-inducing voice. “Care to explain what happened?”

“Don?” Petra piped up quietly; “Can I maybe change the bandages first?”

Smith glanced at her and then at Levi’s chest. “He’ll survive another five minutes. Can you leave us alone?”

She threw a last glance at her wounded superior and then turned around to leave. Halfway Levi’s call for her name made her stop. “What happened to Gunther and Erd?”

She turned around and gave him a soft smile. “They’re uninjured.”

“So,” Erwin started again after Petra closed the door behind her; “what happened out there?”

Levi tried to find a position where his wound didn’t hurt like hell, before he recalled the deal. “The MP knew the first location, so we changed it to the one building near the Sina-bridge. Everything proceeded like usual. They checked the goods and just as we were negotiating about the price the MP busted in and there was such a chaos – everyone tried to escape and then those jerks started shooting.” He paused for a second, before he asked the question he dreaded the most. “Did everyone make it back alive?”

“No serious injuries except for Braun and Leonhardt. However the MP confiscated the van Springer was driving and they arrested him,” Erwin said with a serious tone.

Levi sighed and leaned back in the sofa, ignoring the pain that pierced again through his body. He had put his whole team in danger because he was too reckless. “Wait; we had split the weapons in two vans,” he suddenly remembered. “What happened to the one Sasha was driving?”

“There was another van?”, Erwin asked; it was obvious that he hadn’t heard about it.

“Yes, with goods amounting to $ 850.000,” Levi said and tried to get up. “I need to find out what happened to her.”

“No, you don’t,” Erwin said determinately and pushed him back on the sofa. “You’ll let Petra change your bandages and then rest. I’ll go to take a look at the others and try to find out what happened to Braus.”

“Fuck you! Do you intend to kill me here?” Levi hissed as he landed. There was another stabbing pain through his chest and this time Levi felt like he would vomit.

Erwin just grinned and stood up. “Shut up. If it wasn’t for Erd you wouldn’t even be here. You can stay here for the night.”

Levi gave him a last furious glance, before he collapsed on the sofa.

/

The next morning, the swoop on the Recon Corps seemed to be the topic number one for every conversation. Hanji tried her best to avoid small talk with her colleagues because she wasn’t sure if she could handle that topic without another anxiety attack. That's why she spent the ten minutes before the lecture would start alone at the coffee dispenser, looking at her phone. It bugged her that she hadn’t received any news from Levi. She couldn’t even understand why she cared that much about him.  
 _"Well, it’s not like he’d have a reason to call especially me,"_ she thought bitterly. "B _ut what if they rrested or, even worse, shot him yesterday?_

“Good morning, Miss Zoe,” Michael and Jacob, two of her students, greeted her and stopped in front of the dispenser as well.

Hanji greeted back and wondered for a second if she should just walk away from them.

“Have you heard the news about the swoop?” Jacob asked.

“Yes, I did,” she said. Hanji’s urge to get away from them rose, but then she remembered that they’d eventually know more than she does, since Michael’s father worked for the government. “Do they already know who the dead ones are?”, she asked.

“They’re all from the MP. Can you imagine this? Those assholes managed to kill three armoured agents,” Michael said angrily.

Hanji tried her best, not to dissemble how relieved she was. _So Levi is alright!_

“Well, but I heard that the Recon Corps have suffered some damage as well,” Jacob pointed out.   
“I heard that the MP managed to injure the leader of the deal deadly. He may have escaped, but there’s no way he’d stay alive after three shots in the chest.”

/


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin chuckled when he saw her reaction. To think that she obviously cared that much about the man who dragged her right into the underground was odd.

Usually, Hanji was the kind of teacher that is extremely enthusiastic about her subject. She loved discussing various theories with her students, rather than going through the subject matters from the book. This morning, however, she let them read their textbooks because she was too distracted from staring on her mobile. She already tried to call Nanaba and Mike, but she had only gotten their voice mails so far.

"Miss Zoe, aren't we going to do some experiments?" one of the students asked, visibly annoyed by the fact that the lesson didn't proceed like usually. 

"No, today ..." she started, but the sound of her mobile interrupted her answer. A look on the display showed her that Nanaba was the one calling. Hanji jumped up, excused herself and ran out of the classroom. 

"Nanaba!"  
  


"Hanji? Do you have time to go to the 'Titan'?", Nanaba asked. Hanji could barely hear her from the background noises on the other line.  
  


"I have a lecture now. Is everything alright?", Hanji asked confused. She could hear a loud noise and someone screaming.  
  


"We're in some kind of troubles," Nanaba shouted in the phone. "Listen, go to the 'Titan' immediately! Erwin is waiting there for you." With this sentence Nanaba hung up.

Hanji stared numbly at her phone for some seconds before she went back to her class.

"I'm ending this lesson earlier, there's an emergency," she said while packing her stuff and then she sprinted out of the room.  
  


/  
  


When she got to the 'Titan', Erwin was already waiting in front of it. He looked misplaced, wearing a perfectly fitting suit in such a surrounding area.

"Hanji, how are you?" he greeted her with a friendly smile when she came closer.

"Hello Sir. How can I help you?", she asked him. She couldn't help but to feel intimidated by his appearance.  
  


"I need some drugs from the cellar, but unfortunately I have no knowledge about them," he said while unlocking the door. He gave Hanji another kind smile while he held the door open. The woman stepped inside and they went straight to the cellar. As they arrived at the door to the cellar, Don Smith's mobile started ringing. Hanji decided not to eavesdrop, so she went ahead in the lab. She noticed that there were four black suitcases on the table, which weren't standing there when she had left the other day. For a moment Hanji even thought about taking a look inside, but she was afraid that it would be some kind of secret and the fact that the Don was upstairs made her curiosity fade away. So she simply sat down on one of the stools. Two minutes later Smith came downstairs.

"Do we have some Morphium down here?", he asked and sat down next to Hanji.

"I don't know, Sir. I'll see if I can find some," she said and jumped up. She went straight to a cupboard and started rummaging around in it. However, the box where the Morphium normally was, was empty. Hanji let out a frustrated sigh.

"Sorry, we're out of it," she said, turning to the don. "But we have some Ziconotide, that is about as strong as the other one. May I ask you what you need it for?", she asked curiously, hoping that she didn't cross the line.

"You don't have to be that formal with me," Erwin said friendly. "And yes, it's for Levi. That idiot doesn't want to go to the hospital and claims that he'll survive if he has enough painkillers."

Smith's words made Hanji nearly scream out loud. "He's alive?", she asked with a relieved voice.  
  


Erwin chuckled when he saw her reaction. To think that she obviously cared that much about the man who dragged her right into the underground was odd.   
"Want to accompany me to his apartment to bring him the medicine?" he asked.  
  


Hanji felt her cheeks turning red. _How embarrassing to act like this_ _in front of Smith!  
  
_

/  
  


"Do you need me to do anything else before I leave?", Petra asked. "Want something to eat or to drink?  
  


Levi, who was lying on the couch in his apartment, looked up from the TV. "A whiskey with ice," he said bluntly.  
  


"For fuck's sake, Corporal! You're taking strong painkillers, you mustn't drink," Petra said chiefly. She took her purse from the coffee table and gave him a last cautionary look. "Don't do anything stupid while you're alone!"  
  


Levi rolled his eyes. "God, you're annoying. Better make sure that you guys find out where Sasha is."  
  


Petra just nodded with a smile and went out of the room. Levi could hear how the front door got closed. He tried to get up from the couch, what caused a painful stitch in the shoulder. Therefore, he decided to lie back again. It pissed him off that every move was this painful and that he didn't have any painkillers which were strong enough at home.

Suddenly he heard the door being unlocked again. "Oi, have you forgotten something?", he called through the room.

"No, Petra was only so nice to let us in," Levi could hear Erwin's voice and some seconds later the Don appeared in the living room. 

Levi just wanted to ask who "we" was, but his question got answered immediately when he saw Hanji stepping in behind Erwin. She gave him one of her ridiculous smiles and he felt the urge to throw one of the pillows he was leaning against at her.

"Apparently we're out of Morphium, but this should be the same," Erwin said and took a bottle Hanji was handing him now. "Hanji, could you get him a glass of water? The kitchen is behind that door," he said and pointed towards it.

"Interesting woman, don't you think?", Smith said as she left the room.

Levi rose an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes, we just found out that we both like 'The Garrison'," Erwin said with an impressed tone.  
  
"Congratulations, you both like the same band nearly everyone else does. You must have a special bond," Levi returned sarcastically. _'The Garrison'_ were the most famous band from Trost and nearly everybody Levi knew liked them.

Instead of an answer, Smith just chuckled. He placed the bottle on the table. "Seems like somebody is jealous," he said with a wink.

"I swear to god Erwin, if I could stand up now, I'd kill you," Levi hissed.

His warning only made Erwin grin wider. "I'll be going then. You have no idea how stressful the job is when you're not around," the Don said and made his way out of the living room. 

"Wait!", Levi sat up and instantly regretted this decision. "Hanji is still in the kitchen."

The don shrugged his shoulders. "So?"

"What do you mean ‘ _so’_? Won't you take her with you?"

"She'll find her way back home alone. Besides, I'm sure you'll need some company." With those words Erwin left the room, leaving a puzzled Levi behind.  
  


/  
  


When Hanji came back in the living room, she found only Levi there. "Where's Erwin?", she asked and handed Levi the glass.  
  


"Emergency," he only said and reached for the bottle on the coffee table. Hanji observed how he swallowed the pill and noticed that every movement seemed to be extremely painful to him.

"I guess I should leave as well then," she mumbled and reached for her bag she had thrown on the floor when they came in. 

"Oi, Miss Scientist," she heard Levi's voice and looked up to him.  
  
"I don't know what kind of drugs you gave me. Therefore I need someone to stay here in case that I don't tolerate them," he said with a plain voice.  
But Hanji could swear that the corner of his mouth just rose for a second.

  
/


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do you like it? I mean killing?"
> 
> The man turned his head in Hanji's direction. Her face was a nearly expressionless facade, but Levi could see the fear in her eyes. Was it because she realized that she's sitting next to a killer, or was she afraid of a positive answer?

It was still a mystery to Hanji how she ended up on Levi's couch. She couldn't believe that Smith just ran off while she was getting a glass of water.

Levi, who had been lying on the couch previously, had now sat up, to make room for her.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked and peered at his shoulder. He was wearing a black tank top and she could see that there was a bandage over his right shoulder and his chest. But the bandages weren't the first thing Hanji had noticed. It was her first time to see Levi without his leather jacket and she noticed that there were tattoos all over his arms. Some of those symbols didn't even make sense to her.

"It looks like your painkillers work," he said surprised while moving his shoulder.

"What had even happened that night?" Hanji asked curiously. Maybe this time he'd talk to her.

But instead of an answer she just got an annoyed look and he stood up. He went towards the kitchen and turned around before leaving the living room. "Just stay there, I'll get us something to drink."

The woman nodded and pulled her feet up on the couch. She sat there cross-legged and looked around in the room. Across the black couch, which was placed in the middle of the room, there was a big flat screen TV on the wall. In one corner behind the couch there was a desk with a book-shelf full of folders next to it. Everything was in a nearly painful order, just like the kitchen she previously had been in.

"Get your filthy feet down!", Levi's sharp voice signalized her that he came back to the room.

"I took my shoes off," Hanji said with a grin as she disobeyed.

"Annoying," he just mumbled and placed two glasses on the coffee table, a bottle of 'Chivas Regal' in his hand. He sat down next to Hanji and opened the whiskey.

"You do realize that you're taking painkillers?"

"Annoying! You should be flattered that I've decided to share this with you."

"You can't drink when you're taking such strong medication!", she ranted.

"Don't worry, Miss Scientist. I know what I'm doing," he said assuredly and handed her a glass. Hanji gave him a disapproving glance, which he answered with a smirk; "Then I'll drink yours too."

So she snapped the glass out of his hand. _This guy was unbelievable!_ "If you die, it's not my fault," she mumbled.

"Don't worry, I won't," he said and took the other glass. "Cheers!"  
  


/  
  


When Levi was half done with his glass, he realized that painkillers and alcohol weren't a good idea after all. However, the only thing he might die of was embarrassment. He got drunk too fast and, much to his annoyance, he spoke too much as well.

"What happened to you shoulder?" Hanji asked him and reached for the whiskey bottle on the table.

"I got shot."

"I heard that they've hit you three times," she continued talking while pouring the beverage in her already empty glass.

"Two were a gaze," he said and held his glass in her direction. Hanji shook her head, but refilled it nevertheless.

"Did you kill anyone?" 

Levi nearly choked on his drink when she asked him that. The best thing would be to kick her out of the apartment; however, Levi decided to give her an answer. She would have found out sooner or later anyway, now that she was a member of the Corps. "One policeman that night. He wasn't the first person to die because of me, though."

"Do you like it? I mean killing?"

The man turned his head in Hanji's direction. Her face was a nearly expressionless facade, but Levi could see the fear in her eyes. _Was it because she realized that she's sitting next to a killer, or was she afraid of a positive answer?_ It would be a lie if he had said yes. Most of the deaths he had caused were completely unnecessary if you'd ask him. Most of those people would still be alive if they had done what he had told them. But people do stupid things when they're afraid, they think that they could survive if they acted brave. However, a 'no' would be a lie as well. There was that one murder where he had enjoyed watching his victim cry for his life. That one time he couldn't get enough of watching the blood run down that bastard's body. 

"The only time I enjoyed murder was when I slew the guy that killed my parents," he said with a husky voice, looking at his drink.

The silence that followed his statement was almost unbearable for him. Finally, he managed to look at Hanji again. "I was 15 and the guy who did it was a drunken policeman."

"Was this the reason why you've joined the Mafia?" she asked quietly.

"One of them, yes."

Hanji nodded and emptied her glass.

"I'm sorry. For your parents," she finally spoke again after some minutes.

"You don't have to be," Levi said, shrugging his shoulders. "It was a long time ago."

As Hanji didn't commented on this, Levi reached for the bottle again. Although he didn't feel like drinking anymore, he refilled his glass. He needed a distraction from her silence. 

"You'll die of an alcohol poisoning if you continue like this," she said smart-alecky.

 _So, she's back to normal._ "I already said that I won't die because of such a ridiculous thing," he countered. 

The woman just laughed and took the glass out of his hand. She stood up and grabbed the bottle from the table as well.

"Oi, shitty glasses, what are you doing now?" Levi asked.

"You had too much. I'm putting this away from you," she stated bluntly. As she attempted to turn around and walk away, he grabbed her hand. Unfortunately, Levi was too drunk to estimate his power, so it happened that he dragged her in his direction. Hanji landed on him with a scream. She let go of the bottle and the glass in her fall. The liquor landed all over Levi and the couch. When she saw the whiskey-drenched man under her, she started laughing. The raven gave her a furious glance.

"I'll kill you," he hissed angrily as she didn't stop her laughter.  
  


/  
  


Hanji shook her head in laughter and tried to get up from the man under her. She wanted to heave up her body, but her hands gave in. Levi gasped for air as she crashed on him again and Hanji didn't know whether she should blame the alcohol or her fit of laughter for the lack of strength in her arms.

"Sorry, lost my balance," she mumbled sheepishly and hid her face in his chest. She was afraid to look up. Afraid that she would do something stupid, she would regret later. She had to get up.This time she managed to sit up and she immediately got down from Levi.

"I'm sorry. I'd better be going," she said quietly and stood up.

"You're going to leave me here to clean this fucking mess up by myself?" he said, like he could not believe her. 

"No, I'll help you," Hanji said, ashamed that she didn’t offer her help.

As soon as she spoke those words though, Levi remembered in which state she always left her lab. _Like hell he's going to let her near his furniture._

"No, you won't," he said determinedly and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. "Call yourself a taxi and after that, add your number to my contacts."

He smirked when he saw her surprised expression and left the room to get his cleaning supplies.

/


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm having dinner with the MP , she thought and nearly laughed at the irony.

"Hanji? Hanji, wake up!"

Hanji could hear Moblits voice next to her. She slowly opened her eyes. Moblit was sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing his jacket. _So he just came home_.

"How late is it?" Hanji asked with a sleepy voice. Her temples were throbbing and she just wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to drink with Levi in the morning.

"It's almost 6. I just came home," Moblit said. "Is everything ok? I heard you ran away from your lesson today." He mustered her with an anxious look.

"Headache," Hanji said hoarsely and pulled the blanket over her head. 

Moblit looked down on Hanji's clothes, which were carelessly thrown away next to the bed. There was a strange smell in the room and the man needed a few seconds to understand what it was. "Why does it stink of alcohol?" he asked. "Have you been drinking in the morning?"

She popped out under the blanket and looked at him with a tormented glance. "I have a headache. I don't want to talk," she whined and hid her face again.

"Hanji, get up! We need to talk about this," Moblit said, this time with a stricter voice. He stood up and ripped the blanket away.

His girlfriend let out a frustrated moan. "Give me my blanket back, I want to sleep."

"You can't," Moblit said with a determining voice. "Besides, you've promised me that you'll help me make dinner for our new neighbours."

This time Hanji looked up. "We have new neighbours?"  
  


/  
  


" ... So we're sharing a flat, until we earn enough money to pay back the college fees and buy our own apartment," the blonde boy sitting across from Hanji said. She looked at him and tried to remember his name. Her head still hurt and she was too tired to concentrate.

Their new neighbours had come over for dinner, three young men and a young women, who shared the flat next to Hanji's and Moblit's.

"What kind of college did you visit?" Moblit asked curiously. 

"Mikasa, Eren and I went to the Police College of Trost together. And we met Jean when we started to work for the MP," the blonde explained and Hanji nearly fell off of her chair.   
  
_I'm having dinner with the MP_ , she thought and nearly laughed at the irony.

"What department?" It was Hanji asking this time. Her new neighbours had now claimed her interest. 

"Anti-Mafia. We're serving Special Agent Dawk." It was Jean who answered. His answer sent shivers down Hanji's spines.

"Were you part of the swoop from the other day?" she asked dryly. 

"No, Agent Dawk had some other men out that night," Eren said bitterly. "He should have called me too!"

"Yeah, sure. Like he needs such a suicidal idiot in an important mission," Jean barged in.

Eren looked at him angrily and Hanji was sure that he was about to say something, but then Mikasa interrupted him. "Thank you for the dinner. I'll help you with the dishes," she said and stood up.

"You don't need to," Moblit said friendly, but Mikasa only gave him a glance that signalized that she wasn't accepting a 'no' for an answer.

"You seem to hate the Survey Corps more than the other policemen I've met," Hanji said to Eren, when Mikasa and Moblit left the living room with the dirty plates.

"I'll personally kill every single member of them," the boy said eagerly. His voice didn't leave any room for questioning the statement. "My father left us to work for those assholes. He left his family and his well-paid job as scientist for those assholes. And in the end, they’ve killed him!”

  
/

In the time that Levi was injured, his flat had become some sort of alternate headquarter it seemed. His squad was assembled around the coffee table in his living room. Erd and Gunther were sitting on the couch next to him with their laptops, doing some research. Previously, they had found out that Sasha was in Stohess, a town 120 km away from Trost. The Survey Corps had their second headquarter there, which was supervised by Dita Ness. Levi had ordered them to keep the weaponry Sasha had in the van there, they didn’t need it in Trost for the time being anyway.

“You know what would be good now? One of Petra’s coffees,” Gunther said and glanced in her direction. Petra stood up wordlessly and left the room with a frown mien.

“She’s behaving strange,” Aorou stated when she left.

“She’s mad at her Corporal,” Erd said with a grin, which brought him in a grimly look from Levi.

“He had been drinking with the new scientist, despite taking painkillers. Now she won’t talk to him,” the blond continued his story, ignoring Levi’s glance. “I wonder if she’ll bring him some coffee too.”

“Shut up,” Levi said annoyed to Erd, when his phone beeped suddenly. He took it from the table and looked at the display. There was one new message from Hanji.

**Hanji: I have new neighbours…**

Levi looked at the text in disbelief. _I didn’t give you my number for such ridiculous shit_ – he thought and put his phone away.

Some minutes later, when Petra came back with the coffee – she didn’t have the heart to skip Levi – they were discussing theories who the mole in their ranks was. Even though Levi tried his best to concentrate on the discussion, his eyes wandered to his mobile the whole time. Irritated with his own behaviour, he took the phone and sent her a text back.

**Levi: … and what makes you think that I care about this?**

It took Hanji exactly 45 seconds to reply.

**Hanji: they’re from the MP**

Levi had to read this sentence four times, to be sure that he wasn’t only imagining things. “Aoruo, I need you to find out if the MP knows that Hanji is one of us,” he said to him.

Then, another beep.

“Why, is she in trouble?” Aoruo asked, but he took his laptop out anyway.

“She just told me that her new neighbours are working for the MP. Find out if this is just a coincidence or not,” Levi ordered, while unlocking his phone.

**Hanji: Why did Dr. Jaeger had to die?**

Before Levi could even think about the fact HOW she even found out about Dr. Jaeger, another message came in.

**Hanji: will i end up the same ???**

“What the hell?” Levi pressed the ‘call’ button and left the living room. He walked in his room and stopped in front of the window, waiting for that damn woman to pick up.

_“ … yes?”_

“Can you meet up with me?” Levi asked.

“ _Isn’t it late now_? … _Will you tell me about Dr. Jae …_ ” Hanji tried to ask, but Levi cut her off.

“Not on the phone! I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

Of course it could be pure coincidence that Hanji’s neighbours were from the MP, but Levi didn’t really believe it. _Better safe than sorry_ – he thought as he opened his wardrobe and took out his leather jacket and his two motorcycle helmets. When he came back in the living room, Aurou looked up from his laptop-screen. 

“I’ve found out the names of her neighbours, but I still have no clues if it’s only a coincidence or not.”

Levi nodded. “Good. Do you guys need long?”

“One hour, maximum,” Gunther said. “Where are you going?”

“Lock the door after you, when you leave,” Levi said, ignoring his question. He turned around to leave the room, when Petra’s voice stopped him.

“You are not seriously planning to drive you bike now! For god’s sake, you’re taking painkillers AND you’ve drank!”

“That was more than ten hours ago,” Levi only said, without looking back and left the room.

/


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Will you tell me why Jaeger had to die?”
> 
> “He wanted to back off, but he already knew too much. So we didn’t have any other choice,” the raven only said. He would conceal the details to her.
> 
> “So, if I told you that I want to quit, I’d end up the same?” Hanji asked him curiously.

_“I’ll be there in 10 minutes.“_

Hanji starred at her phone long after Levi hung up. This was another totally unpredictable situation she found herself in. The talk with Eren made her anxious. If his father was murdered despite being a great scientist - _and Hanji knew too well how good Dr. Jaeger was; she was using his formula book after all_ – who could assure her that she won’t end up the same? There was no proof that she wouldn’t end up like him. It would even be possible for Levi to kill her this night. However, a part of her denied this scenario at all costs. Yes, he was a criminal, but there was something about him that made her feel safe when she was around him. And this was the oddest thing ever, if you consider how hard he tried to act dangerous.

“Are you going somewhere?” Moblit asked Hanji when he saw her putting on a jacket.

“Umm ... outside,” she mumbled.

“At midnight? Hanji what’s wrong?” he asked with an anxious look on his face. 

“Nothing,” the woman answered narrowly. “I just need to go outside.” She hated herself for lying to the person who believed her the most. But she couldn’t tell him the truth.

“You’re behaving strange in the last days,” Moblit said and stepped closer to her. “In addition to that, you’ve been drinking in the morning and now you’re going out at midnight on a Wednesday.” He paused for a second, before asking the question he dreaded the most. "Are you seeing another guy?”

“God, no,” Hanji said, but it didn’t come over convincing. _After all, she was exactly doing this_. “I’m not cheating on you,” she added desperately.

“Well, what is it then?”

Seeing his hurt expression was heart-breaking and Hanji felt like she would start crying any second. “I … I can’t tell you … I’m sorry,” she whispered and ran off.   
She could hear Moblit calling her name when the door closed behind her.

/

When Hanji stepped outside, there was a motorbike standing near the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. The driver was sitting on it, his helmet still on his head. He handed a second helmet in Hanji’s direction. She took it wordlessly and climbed clumsily behind the driver.

“You look awful,” she heard Levi’s voice, before he started the engine.

It was the first time for Hanji to sit on a motorbike. When Levi drove off, she instinctively grabbed on his jacket. She clenched onto him for the whole drive and sent a prayer to heaven that they would arrive soon. To think that he was driving while intoxicated didn’t help her to relax at all. Levi drove in direction of the city center and when they arrived at the Sina-Bridge, he left the boulevard. After a few seconds, he stopped the bike in front of an abandoned building.

“Couldn’t you have come with a car like all normal people do?” Hanji complained when she got down from the bike.

Levi looked at her with an amused grin. “A bike is more maneuverable in case of a pursuit.”

“You thought that my new neighbours would chase after us?”, Hanji asked him.

Instead of an answer he only shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the building, signalizing Hanji to follow him inside. They went along the corridor until Levi opened one door. In the room behind it, there were some wooden chairs lined up in a circle.

“Make yourself at home,” Levi said sarcastically and stepped aside to let Hanji enter the room.

He closed the door and dragged one of the chairs to place it in front of the one Hanji was sitting on. The raven took out a cigarette and lightened it up. “Holy shit, I didn’t realized how much I missed this,” he mumbled to himself with the cigarette between his lips. When he stretched the pack in Hanji’s direction, the woman shook her head. Levi shrugged his shoulders again and put the pack back in his jacket.

“How do you know about Dr. Jaeger?” he asked as he exhaled the smoke.

“His son is one of my neighbours,” Hanji answered curtly, trying to hide the fact how much the smoke irritated her. She still wasn’t used to Levi smoking beside her.

Levi raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? I guess the kid is out for total revenge then?”

“Yeah, you could say so,” Hanji said, remembering the boy’s devotion for this. “Will you tell me why Jaeger had to die?”

“He wanted to back off, but he already knew too much. So we didn’t have any other choice,” the raven only said. He would conceal the details to her. She didn’t have to know that Jaeger suddenly announced that he wanted to quit, because he missed his family. After six devotional years in the Corps his fatherly instincts suddenly got the upper hand.   
Someone had said that it was cruel to take a father away from his children; however, it had been that father’s own, voluntary choice to join the Mafia in first place.

“So, if I told you that I want to quit, I’d end up the same?” Hanji asked him curiously.

“Do you always ask so many questions?” Levi answered with an annoyed mien.

“The job of a scientist is to question things,” she said with a defiantly smile. “You never answer though.”

“Tsk, Annoying. I should get you home,” he decided and was about to stand up.

“I had a fight with my boyfriend only to come here for 10 minutes?”, Hanji asked in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? I thought that you’d tell me some details about Dr. Jaeger and my new neighbours.”

A minute passed silently, Levi’s gaze fixed on Hanji. Then, the raven sat back down on his chair, moving it closer to Hanji.

“You had a fight with your boyfriend?”, he asked, with an amusing tone in his voice.

“How nice to see that my life amuses you so much,” the woman hissed bitterly. She hated to admit it, but his behaviour hurt her.

“It doesn’t amuse me, I’m just flustered that you fight with your man because of me,” Levi stated with a grin. The grin grew even bigger when he saw how Hanji reacted to his words. The woman in front of him turned bright red, opening her mouth to say something in her defense. However, she closed it again, as she didn’t find the proper words.

“You looked like a fish now,” Levi said and ground his cigarette. “Want to tell me what the fight was about?”

He earned a mortally offended glance from Hanji. “You also never tell me anything. What makes you think that I’ll share my secrets with you?”

“Because, compared to my secrets, yours are childish,” he said bluntly. “I don’t mean to offend you, but I think that the police would care more about the details regarding the Corps than why you’ve fought with your boyfriend. And I want to spare you the details. The less you know the better it is for your own safety.”

In that moment, Hanji realized what a sorehead she was. She felt ashamed and she was mad at herself. And, she was mad at Levi. Mad, that he just busted in her life and made it turn 180°. Mad, that he was right. “Why did you even forced me to join the Recon Corps?” she asked huskily.

/

Maybe, just maybe Levi would have told her the truth, if there wasn’t the noise of footsteps behind the door.

/


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The woman stumbled forward and fell down on all four. He wanted to help her up, but stopped in his motion as he heard chocking noises coming from her. Her whole body trembled and it looked like her arms would give in any second.
> 
> “Their brains … oh god, there were their brains around them…,” she cried.

Hanji looked at Levi with a terrified expression. The man just stopped talking with her and put out a gun, which was hidden under his leather jacket. He grabbed Hanji up from her stair and pulled her protectively behind him.

“What … ,” she wanted to ask him what was going on, but Levi interrupted her by putting a finger on her mouth.

“There’s someone,” he whispered as he pointed the gun towards the door and put out his phone. He dialed a number and put the phone away again, without talking to anyone. Hanji observed him wide eyed and clenched on his jacket, not daring to ask him what he’s doing. Just some seconds after this, the door got jerked open, two men in MP uniform standing in the doorframe.

“Drop your weapons!” one of the guys shouted and pointed a gun at Levi and Hanji.

.

And then, there was an ear-battering sound, closely followed by a second one. Hanji let out a scream and instinctively closed her eyes in fear. She let go of Levi’s jacket, in order to shield her ears from the direful sound. However, the silence that followed after it was even more terrifying than the riot before it. Hanji’s legs trembled as she realized that they might have hit Levi. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

But Levi was still standing in front of her. He turned around and grabbed her arm. “Get moving!”

In that moment, Hanji glanced in the direction where the two policemen were standing seconds ago, and she wished, that she wouldn’t have done so. The two men were on the floor, one fell over the other, a hole in each’s head. The walls near them and the floor were squirted with blood stains.

 _So much blood_.

Blood and something else. Then, Hanji realized that this ‘something else’ were pieces of their brains, blown out of their heads. And in that moment, she felt the urge to vomit. To scream and to run away from this.

“Oh god,” she shrieked hysterically; “You shot them!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that you wanted to get killed instead,” Levi hissed and pulled her abrasively to the corner of the room. There was something on the floor, which turned out to be a handle for a trap-door. Levi took out his phone to use it as a flash-light and ordered Hanji to climb the steps down.

“What …?”

“Shitty glasses, we don’t have time for your questions, get down there before the others come!”, he said annoyed as he grabbed her hand again and dragged her behind him, down the stairs. The light of Levi’s phone didn’t really lighten the way, but he maneuvered her wordlessly through the subterranean maze.

/

Levi did not talk to Hanji till they reached the ladder, which would guide them behind another building, only some meters away from the abandoned building surrounded by the MP. Levi hadn't even had the time to think about the situation. When he had seen the two men pointing a weapon at Hanji and him, his first instinct was to open the fire before they could do it.

‘ _Always go for the heads, everyone knows that they’re wearing bulletproof vests_.’

Levi had chosen exactly this building to come here with Hanji because of the subterranean maze, which Erwin had ordered to build some years ago. It was easy to flee from persecutors because of it. Also, due to the many turnings, it was almost impossible to get hit by a bullet from the back; except the other person was really close behind you. In front of the ladder, Levi let go of Hanji’s arm. Just as he did so, the woman stumbled forward and fell down on all four. He wanted to help her up, but stopped in his motion as he heard chocking noises coming from her. Her whole body trembled and it looked like her arms would give in any second.

“Their brains … oh god, there were _their brains_ around them…,” she cried.

“Hanji? Look, I know that this was gruesome. But you need to get up now, before they find us here,” he tried to approach her with a calm voice.

Hanji slowly turned her head in his direction and even in the weak light of his phone's flashlight Levi could see that she was unhealthily pale. She looked him directly in the eyes and shook her head panicky. “How can you be so calm about this? _Their brains were everywhere_ ,” she cried out distraughtly, but she let Levi take her hand and pull her up nevertheless.

Levi carefully pulled her in his embrace and slowly caressed her back. As he did so, Hanji started crying and desperately gasped for air. “Hanji, you’re having a panic attack and I need you to calm down.” Levi said sedately. He continued stroking her back. The woman in his arms still trembled, but her breathing eventually calmed down as she leaned her head on his shoulder. They stayed like this for another minute, before Levi’s hand on Hanji’s back stopped moving up and down.

“Can we go now?” he asked, his voice still calm.

/

When they climbed up the ladder, there was a blazing red VW standing on the street. Hanji looked confusedly over to Levi. He had mentioned that they would send someone to pick them up. However, she hadn’t expected that the getaway car would be so flashy.

“Like I didn’t have enough trouble for tonight,” Levi mumbled next to her and opened the back door. Hanji climbed in first. There was a tall man with brown hair sitting on the back seat and he smiled nervously as he greeted her.

“Got into some trouble, eh?” the driver asked and turned back with a grin on his face as Levi closed the door behind him.

“Shut up, Braun and get moving,” Levi said annoyed and fastened his seat belt. After this, he had to fasten Hanji’s seat belt as well, because she wasn’t moving.

“As you wish, boss,” the blonde answered and started the engine. Just as he merged in the traffic on the boulevard, police sirens started going on in the distance.

“What a great night,” Levi hissed sarcastically. “How come that they’ve sent you guys to pick us up anyway?” Levi had sent the SOS-signal to their HQ when he had heard the footsteps in front of the door. It surprised him that there was someone so stupid to send a red getaway car for the rescue, though.

“Actually, we were on our way to Stohess to pick up Sasha, and only happened to be close by coincidence,” a female voice answered and Hanji just now noticed that there was a woman sitting on the passenger seat.

“So, you’re the new scientist everyone is talking about,” the driver suddenly said and turned around for a second to look at Hanji. “Nice to meet you, I’m Rainer. And this are Berthold and Annie,” he explained carelessly as he speeded up.

Hanji only nodded and cursed that she had to sit in the middle, where she couldn’t hold onto anything.

“You’re doing a pretty good job,” Rainer continued as he turned left jerkily, causing his passengers on the back seat to crash into each other. “Your drugs are pretty famous among our club visitors.”

He passed a cross-way, without paying attention to the red traffic lights and angry honking from the other drivers. Hanji clenched onto Levi’s arm and closed her eyes. This night was definitely too much for her nerves. First the shooting and now a car chase through the city with a guy who paid more attention to anything that was going on in the car than on the road. The only thing she wanted now was to wake up in her bed and to find out that everything was only a dream.

“Rainer, could you drop us out at my apartment, before you kill us?” Levi asked as Hanji tightened her grip. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody in the room was hanging on Levi’s every word. Their miens were tense and Hanji could tell that they were not daring to breathe for the duration on the call.
> 
> “Did they find the mole?", Nanaba asked as soon as Levi removed the phone from his ear.

Braun had a simple task: drive from the Sina-bridge to Levi’s apartment. And if possible, don’t kill anybody while doing so. For this route Levi needed almost 10 minutes with his motorbike, when he drove fast. Rainer, however, needed only 6 minutes, what was little short of a miracle that he even reached Levi’s building and didn’t crash into the first wall. This guy drove like the traffic rules didn’t affect him and he obviously had never heard that you should slow down when making a turn.

“So, boss, we’re here,” Rainer announced unnecessarily when he stopped the car on the sidewalk, only half a meter from the entrance. _Who needs parking lots anyway?_ At this moment, Levi was sure that this guy would have driven all the way up to the fifth floor if the entrance door of the building had been just a little wider to fit the car through it.

“Braun, if they ever send you again to rescue me, please refuse it and let me get shot instead,” Levi said with an annoyed, monotone voice, which brought him in a laugh from Rainer and a shocked look from Bertholdt. Levi unbuckled his seat belt and looked at Hanji. She was asleep, her head resting against Bertholdt’s shoulder. Not that she had fallen asleep by herself on this short ride, but she had a panic attack and they had to calm her down with a tranquilizer. “Fubar, you’re the only one who’s not injured, so carry her upstairs,” he added as he got out of the car.

Before Levi could follow Bertholdt into the building, Annie let the car window on her side down.

“Is there something?”, Levi asked her.

“Do you have any clues about the mole?” Her face reflected disinterest, as always, but Levi could hear some curiosity in her voice.

“We’re still working on it,” he replied.

“Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious, that the MP knows so much about us, since she joined?” Annie asked.

“As I said, we’re still working on it.”

Levi turned around without any other words and disappeared into the building.

/

Hanji woke up to the piercing sound of a doorbell. Slowly, she sat up in the bed and looked around confusedly. _She definitely wasn’t in her apartment_. It took her a few moments to remember what had happened last night, and she came to the conclusion, that she had to be in Levi’s bedroom. There was, however, no sign that he had spent the night in here as well. The other side of the bed was untouched, only her clothes – _neatly folded_ – and her bag were on the edge. As she saw her clothes there, Hanji nearly let out a scream. She tossed the blanket away, only to find out that she was in her underwear. “That bastard!” she screamed, not caring that he might hear her, and crawled across the king-sized bed to her clothes. After putting them on, she took her bag to check for her mobile. She had switched it off last night, and now the device needed some seconds to connect to the cellular network. As it did, it started beeping and vibrating like crazy, notifying her that she got new messages. When it finally stopped, Hanji looked at the display and her heart leaped into her throat.

15 new messages and 38 missed calls. Assuming the worst, she unlocked the display.

**Moblit: where are you?**

**Moblit: are you coming back tonight?**

**Moblit: where did you go?**

**Moblit: was this a break up?**

**Moblit: Hanji, why is your phone off?**

**Moblit: is everything alright?**

**Moblit: it’s 3 Am! HanJi whesre are you?!?!?!**

**Moblit: Hanji!?**

**…**

**Moblit: please, just let me know that you’re alright. PLEASE!**

/

_“That bastard!”_

“I think that Hanji woke up.”

Levi put another coffee-mug on the table in his living room and gave Erwin an annoyed glance; “Of course she did, when you dickhead had to ring the bell as if we all were deaf.”

His comment earned a chuckle from Mike’s side, but the blonde pretended that he was drinking his coffee, not minding anything around him, as Levi shot a piercing glare in his direction.

“Well I didn’t know that she was still asleep, it’s nearly noon,” Erwin defended himself and took the mug Levi had placed in front of him.

“It’s 10 a.m.,” Levi reminded him. He sat down on the floor next to Nanaba, across from Erwin and Mike on the couch. The raven couldn’t remember since when his living room turned into the meeting point for them and it annoyed him to hell. Normally, they would always meet up in the ‘Emperor’, but ever since he got shot, his friends had developed the annoying habit of coming to his apartment. For fucks sake, he was injured, not paralyzed and chained to his bed. _Like an injured shoulder would disable him from driving to the damn hotel!_

“Won’t you go check on her?”, Nanaba asked when he sat down.

“If I go in there, she’ll kill me,” Levi answered crisply, stating the obvious.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if she did, after hearing your story what happened,” Mike said with a smirk. “I mean seriously, why did you put her out of action?”

Levi shrugged his shoulders. “She had a panic attack. And for your information; it was Leonhardt who rammed a sedative injection in Hanji’s arm.”

“Why the hell does Annie have a sedative injection in the car?” This time it was Erwin who asked.

“Erwin, we’re talking about the Titan-Trio. They would have given Levi a toaster if he had asked for one,” Mike explained, surprised that the Don even asked such a thing. After all, the Corps had learned over time that you never ask how or why the Titan-Trio did something. Mike and Levi tolerated the trio’s strange behaviour only because they did their job extremely precise and well. The three had gotten their nickname when they started working as bouncers for the ‘Titan’ nightclub. Soon enough, Mike had learned that they were applicable for totally different tasks, which required mercilessness and discreetness, and as mentioned, they were really good at their work.

“Right, I don’t know why I even asked,” Erwin said with a shake of his head. “Anyway, the whole thing with the mole is slowly developing into a real disaster. I spoke to Dmitry yesterday. The Russians are interested in the new drug Hanji made. However, he is not sure whether to wrap up a deal with us after the story with the Chinese.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? If we lose Dmitry as client we can bid adieu to the Russian underground,” Levi said annoyed and jumped up. This whole situation was pissing him off and the worst part was that he couldn’t do anything against it. That would also mean, that his time there would turn out to be completely pointless. 

“Did your team find out anything?”, Nanaba piped up low-voiced, not intending to anger Levi even more.

“I don’t know,” the raven snapped while pulling out his phone and dialling Erd’s number.

/

At the same time, Hanji stepped in the door frame. The atmosphere in the living room was so tense, that nobody noticed her presence.

/

_“Boss?”_

“Have you guys found out anything?”, Levi asked sharply.

_“Err … I’m not sure about it, but it could be that we’ve eliminated the mole.”_

“How the hell can you not be sure about it?”

_“There wasn’t really time to check it out,” Erd said ruefully. “We saw him talking to one agent of the MP and Aoruo reacted too hastily.”_

“I can’t believe what bunch of idiots you are. Who did you kill?”

/

Everybody in the room was hanging on Levi’s every word. Their miens were tense and Hanji could tell that they were not daring to breathe for the duration on the call.

“Did they find the mole?", Nanaba asked as soon as Levi removed the phone from his ear.

“They acted without proofing it 100 %,” Levi said, annoyed that his squad made such a stupid mistake. “They saw him talking to the MP and eliminated him.”

“Who?” The other three shouted nearly at the same time.

“Marco Bodt,” Levi answered. “He was in contact with Kirschtein from the MP.”

“Bodt? Are you fucking kidding me!?” Erwin shouted angrily in this moment, the facade of the friendly blonde boss vanished.

_And then, the events took a turn no one could have predicted._

/


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You know what will happen if any of this information leaks outside?”, he asked and lifted Hanji’s chin up with the index finger of his left hand, so that she had to look him straight in the eyes.
> 
> “You’ll … kill me.”
> 
> “Clever girl.” There was a sign of devilish smirk on his face for a second. “Now to my next question, did you tell anybody what you’re doing for us?”

Levi stood in his living room, motionless, staring at the man whom he had believed the most, only to have found out that Erwin obviously didn’t think the same about him.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me about this?” Levi asked with an ice-cold voice. It turned out that Erwin and Mike had decided to send a mole into the Military Police as well. They had brought in a boy – Jean Kirschtein , from their district office in Sina, and faked his documents, so that the MP would recruit him. Also, it turned out that Marco Bodt was Jean’s only contact-person in Trost.

Erwin now stood up too, holding his hands up in defense. “Look, Levi. We decided on this move two years ago. We thought that it would come in pretty handy, if we needed some information. However, you were in Russia at this time and it was too risky to call you back then and tell you about it.”

“Are you shitting me? What kind of reason is this? Do you think I would have run through Moscow, yelling this through the streets? Like Dmitry gives a shit about our way of proceeding.” Levi was boiling with anger. 

“It’s not about Dmitry or not trusting you,” Erwin sighed. “The thing is, your squad would have found out too and the more people knew about Kirschtein, the riskier it gets for him.”

“Wait. You think that the mole is someone of my squad?”

“I never claimed this,” Erwin defended himself. “However, just because you trust them, doesn’t mean I have to do so too.” The Don looked at Levi, expecting him to say something, but the raven only starred back with a mad expression, his lips pressed together in a thin line.

“At the moment I only trust you three and I would appreciate it if the things we discuss remain between ourselves,” the Don added and Mike and Nanaba nodded affirmatively at his words. Erwin turned to Levi again with an interrogatively look, “Well?”

“Fuck you,” the raven answered sulkily. A long pause and then he added; “I get it.”

Only now, as Erwin and the other two were about to leave, they spotted Hanji in the door frame.

“How long have you been standing there?”, Levi asked her, his voice still furious.

“I … I just came here,” Hanji stuttered startled.

“Hanji, how lucky we got to see you here,” Nanaba piped in, before Levi could say another thing. “We’d need you in the lab.” She lightly grabbed Hanji's arm. 

“She’s staying here,” Levi said determinedly and Nanaba let go. “And you three, get lost already.”

/

_“Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that the MP knows so much about us, since she joined?”_

/

“Sit down,” Levi ordered sharply as he picked up the empty coffee mugs from the table. This time, Hanji obeyed and let herself down on the couch, quietly waiting for him to return from the kitchen. She had witnessed just now how angry he had gotten and she didn’t want to be the one he would take his anger out on.

“So,” Levi said as he stepped in front of Hanji. He leaned forward, putting his right hand at the back-rest of the couch, only centimeters away from Hanji’s shoulder. _Infiltrate in their personal space, create the illusion that they can’t get away._ He was going to do the thing he could do best, and that was intimidating somebody. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and if I find out that you’re lying, I will kill you for real this time.”

Hanji gulped and nodded. She could feel that this time he wasn’t just trying to be the tough guy.

“How much have you heard?” His voice was low, but in a way that sent shivers down Hanji’s spine. This was the moment she realized that he would be able to read her like an open book.

“From the phone-call,” she admitted tensely.

“You know what will happen if any of this information leaks outside?”, he asked and lifted Hanji’s chin up with the index finger of his left hand, so that she had to look him straight in the eyes.

“You’ll … kill me.”

There was a gun hidden under the coffee-table, but Levi figured out that he wouldn’t need it for her.

“Clever girl.” There was a sign of devilish smirk on his face for a second. “Now to my next question, did you tell anybody what you’re doing for us?”

“No.”

“What about your boyfriend? Isn’t he suspicious?”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell him anything, I swear.” Slowly, Hanji started to get panicky. What if he didn’t believe her?

“Oh, and he never asked you why you’re coming home that late?”, Levi asked with a velvety-soft voice, leaning even more forward, so that their noses almost touched. He could see the panic raising in her eyes as he did so and he had to withhold from another smirk.

“I tell him that I have to work overtime,” she answered, her voice starting to shake.

“And he believes you?”

Hanji shook her head. “I don’t know. He thinks that I’m … I guess he thinks that I’m cheating on him.”

“Is that so?” Levi asked with a smirk. “I wonder how you will explain your absence this night.” He let go of her chin and moved away from her. It was obvious that she couldn’t be a spy sent from the MP. Levi had enough experience revealing double agents and Hanji was too transparent with every emotion showing on her face.

He snapped out of the investigator role. “Now listen, I’ll drive you home now. Settle this matter with your boyfriend and show up at the ‘Titan’ at 2 o’clock sharp. Understood?” 

“Yes. But how are you going to drive? Isn’t your bike still at the Sina-bridge?”

“I make ridiculously high vast sums of money, do you really think that I got only one bike?” he asked amused and Hanji shook her head. He had noticed the night before how anxious she had gotten on the bike with him. 

“I bet you also got a lot of cars,” she added desperately. Like hell she would sit on one of those diabolic machines again.

“Actually, I only have one car,” Levi said bemusedly. If he would be mean enough, he’d take his ‘ _Suzuki Hayabusa_ ’ to drive her home. It surely would be amusing to see her reaction after a ride on the 400 HP machine.

Hanji jumped up from the couch, waving around with her arms. “You mean the BMW, right? We can take that!”

/

“Did you really think that I’m the mole?”

“Shut up, four-eyes,” Levi said grimly, staring at the traffic jam in front of them. If he only had picked a bike instead of this stupid car.

The woman bit down on her lower lip and turned her head to the window. Her thoughts always wandered back to the desperate messages from Moblit. She hadn’t called him back and she was sure that he was waiting for her at home. Without fail, the conversation awaiting the couple will be hard. As she needed some destruction, Hanji tried to resume her small talk with Levi. “Why were you in Russia?” _No, wrong question_! But it was too late, the words had already left her mouth. 

“You do realize that you’re making yourself suspicious again?”, Levi countered her question. Finally the cars in front started to move forward again.

“Right, sorry.”

Levi sighed. “You’re a hopeless case. “

“Sorry.”

“Shut up.” But it didn't sound as mean as he was before. 

When they arrived at Hanji’s place, the woman looked at the building, afraid of what would await her inside. She grabbed her bag from the backseat and thanked Levi for the ride.

“Shitty-glasses,” Levi called out as she opened the door to prevent her from stepping out of the car.

Hanji turned her head around and Levi already had his hand in her ponytail. He pushed her head in his direction, closing the space between them with his lips on hers. When he pulled back a few centimeters, a pair of hazel eyes stared at him with a shocked expression.

“Now you won’t have to lie to your boyfriend about cheating on him,” Levi breathed against her ear, before he pulled back completely. He watched her exit, a smug smirk on his face. It would be a pity if she was the mole, because he surely would miss teasing her like this; Levi thought as he drove off. Instead of returning home, he dialed Petra’s number. He was determined to find out the identity of this fucking mole by the end of the day and he already had a plan how to address this problem.

/


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And from all the lies she could have told, Hanji choose to tell him the one, which surely would hurt the most. The one, a part of her - no matter how much she denied it - wished was true.

It was 11 a.m. when Levi arrived at Petra’s flat.

“The others didn’t come with you?”, Petra stated confusedly when she opened the door and found out that her boss was alone.

“No. I need you to do something for me and I would appreciate it if nobody finds out about this,” Levi answered as he stepped inside.

“I made some coffee when you told me that you’d come over. Want some?”, Petra asked in her usual polite tone and headed for the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

“Actually, I don’t have any time for this,” Levi called after her, but the strawberry-blonde already had disappeared through the glass-door at the end of the hallway. Levi sighed in annoyance as he followed her. When he stepped in the big kitchen, it smelled like coffee and cookies, like it always did in Petra’s home and for the first time, it irritated Levi.

“Do you want some biscuits with it?” Petra asked as she placed two cups on the table.

“No. Sit down already, we need to talk.”

.

After 20 minutes Levi was in his car again. He had another two hours left to visit the rest of his squad and to assign them the same task. After that, he only had to wait and hope that they wouldn’t tell each other about it.

/

When you have known a person for so many years, you can exactly tell how they would react in certain situations. Especially when that other person is the overanxious Moblit Baner.

“Hanji …” He starred at her for over a minute when she entered their flat, like he couldn’t believe that she was standing in front of him.

Hanji, on the other side, didn’t know how to react. Where should she begin?

“Where were you?” he finally managed to ask. He kept starring at her, and Hanji was paranoid that he would see the truth if he met her gaze.

She knew that she had to lie, it was inescapably. The only question was; what kind of story should she tell him this time? Maybe there was a fairy tale, which would be plausible enough to explain Hanji’s absence and her behaviour over the last days. It was Moblit after all. At the end, he would put the blame on himself and he would definitely forgive her. They could move on and pretend that their relationship hadn’t suffered.

And from all the lies she could have told, Hanji choose to tell him the one, which surely would hurt the most. The one, a part of her, no matter how much she denied it, wished was true.

“I was with another man.”

At this very moment, Hanji could see how Moblit’s heart broke in two. “You told me that there was no one when you left,” he said with a shaky voice.

 _Oh, goddammit, don’t start crying!_ “I’m sorry, Moblit," her voice was only a weak whisper. Otherwise, she’d start crying too.

“What do you want me to do now?”, he asked. Poor Moblit, that was to be expected. If Hanji would tell him now that he should move out he wouldn’t hesitate to do it.

“I just came to get some of my stuff," she said instead.

Moblit watched her the whole time while she stuffed some random pieces of clothing in her grip-sack. “So this is over?”

“I’m sorry, Moblit,” Hanji said again. She felt terrible, because, out of all people, he didn’t deserve such a thing. But, if she stayed, she would have only made things worse for him.

Only when she left the flat, Hanji realized that she had no idea where she should stay the night. She took out her mobile; as if all the answers she needed right now would flash over the display. However, the only thing that caught her attention was the time; 13:43.

/

Once again, Hanji was running the 400 meters from the metro station to the ‘Titan’ like someone was chasing her. She was late. Again. Considering how well she knew Levi, just having broken up with one’s boyfriend and going through all the emotional damage that followed this act was not an acceptable excuse for being late. Hanji tried her best to focus on the street in front of her, suppressing Moblit’s broken expression that had burnt into her mind.

When she arrived at her destination, there was no sign of Mike’s Jeep in the parking lot in front, only a bilious green motorbike. “How great,” Hanji mumbled sarcastically. She had hoped that Mike and Nanaba would be there as well, so that she wouldn’t have to deal with a grumpy Levi all by herself. However, as she stepped inside, she found only those two there. Mike was changing the arrangement of the bottles on the shelf, his back turned to the entrance. Nanaba was sitting on the bar-counter instead on one of the bar stools in front of it, her feet swinging to an unheard rhythm. She smiled when she saw Hanji entering.

“Round of drinks for our new-baked single lady,” she shouted cheerfully, causing Mike to cringe and turn around. Hanji saw him mouthing a 'Sorry' in her direction.

“How do you know about it?”, Hanji asked as she sat down on a bar stool beside Hanji.

Nanaba gracefully slid down on the stool next to Hanji. “Mike said that he smelled frustration as you were coming in,” she said with a wink.

At the same time Mike placed three shot glasses in front of the women and filled them with a yellow liquor. “Limoncello, a Sicilian liquor made out of lemons,” he explained as he saw Hanji’s questioning expression. “Eliminates frustration momentarily,” the man added with a grin.

“I thought that the bike outside was Levi’s,” Hanji said after they all had emptied their glasses.

“Nah, that’s my Ninja. Our Shorty would never drive a Kawasaki. For a strange reason he only buys machines from Suzuki.” Nanaba shrugged her shoulders. “Obviously, he has no idea what’s good when it comes to motorbikes.”

“Not this again,” Mike said with a playfully grin and looked at Hanji; “Believe me; you don’t want to listen to their conversation about motorbikes.”

His comment earned an offended ‘tsk’ from Nanaba and a wide grin from Hanji. She could indeed imagine how heated a debate between Levi and Nanaba could be. “I’ll make sure not to bring this topic up when they’re both in the same room,” she stated with a grin.

“Don’t align yourself with Mike,” Nanaba warned her; “otherwise Shorty and I’ll have to pair up against you two.”

“Speaking of Levi, shouldn’t he already be here?”, Hanji asked with a look on her mobile. It was already 14:47 and it surely was odd for the otherwise punctual man to be that late.

“He said that he’d visit his squad members. I don’t know the reason for it though,” Nanaba said. “I bet he’s at Petra’s home and _somehow_ forgot the time,“ she added with a laugh.

“Do you have a death wish, Blondie?”, a gravelly voice suddenly asked, making Hanji and Nanaba jump up startled.

“Don’t scare me like this,” Nanaba whined.

“Do the three of you have no better things to do then to drink?” Levi asked annoyed, ignoring Nanaba’s whining.

“We’re celebrating the fact that Hanji is single again,” Mike said and grinned as he saw Levi’s expression change from annoyance to surprise for a second.

“That’s not a reason to bunk your work,” Levi said instead, to change the topic.

“Now that you mention work. Mike, we need to meet up with the guy from yesterday,” Nanaba suddenly bursted out.

Mike gave her a questioning look, before his face lightened up. “That’s right, I nearly forgot it.” He came out from behind the bar and picked up Hanjis’ bags from the floor, shoving them in Levi’s hands. “I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.” Without leaving any time for complaints, Mike placed his hands on Levi’s shoulders, guiding - or rather, pushing - him outside.

For a moment, Hanji starred after them. The scenario of Mike nearly throwing a confused Levi outside was more than hilarious. “I guess I’ll leave too, before Mike throws me out,” she laughed and jumped down from the stool.

“See you later, Hanji!”, Nanaba shouted after her.

When Mike came back, he looked at Nanaba with an amused grin. “Meeting a client, huh?”

“Oh, come on! Otherwise this helpless idiot would never have offered Hanji to stay at his place over night.”

/

“What the hell is wrong with these two idiots?”, Levi asked annoyed as he found himself standing with Hanji in front of the club. He glanced in Hanji’s direction. “And why the hell are you grinning like an idiot?”

“You should have seen your face when Mike had thrown you out,” she laughed.

“You’re nothing better than those two idiots inside,” Levi stated with an offended tone in his voice and started walking towards his car. When he realized that Hanji wasn’t following, he turned around. “Oi, shitty glasses! How the hell am I supposed to unlock the car while carrying your stupid bags?”

When she finally took the bags out of his hands, Levi fished the car keys out of his pocket and unlocked it. “Do you need an extra invitation?” he asked as Hanji didn’t show any intentions to move from the spot she was standing. She gave him a puzzled look.

“You don’t really have somewhere to go, now that you’ve broken up, am I right?”, he asked and rolled his eyes. For someone who was supposed to be intelligent, she surely wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to other things.

“I would have called a friend, or something,” she mumbled.

“Rubbish! You can stay at my place,” Levi said determined. “Now get in the car.”

/


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi: there's no client, is there?

It was so uncommon that Levi had guests who stayed over night. In fact, the only person that had ever crashed at Levi’s place was Nanaba. That idiot always came to him when she had a fight with Mike. At some point, Levi had given up to complain about it. He knew that Nanaba and Mike owned a ridiculous number of properties where she could go, but she always insisted that Levi was the best company to get carelessly drunk with.

“I don’t have a spare room because I converted it into a fitness room,” Levi explained to Hanji when they entered the flat. “You can put your stuff into my bedroom; there should be enough room for it.”

He watched her nod and walk wordlessly towards it with her begs. “Oi, shitty glasses,” he called out before she disappeared behind the door. “Do you want to eat something?”

She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a smile. “Sure, I’m starving.”

On the way to his kitchen, Levi’s phone beeped once, meaning that he received a new message. Levi unlocked the screen and rolled his eyes in annoyance when he saw Nanaba’s name next to the little letter.

**Nanaba: You can thank me later shorty ;)  
**

At first, her text didn’t make any sense. _This idiot must be already drunk,_ he thought annoyed.

**Levi: are you drunk?**

Her reply came immediately.

**Nanaba: not yet ;P why do you ask?**

Levi leant against the kitchen counter and typed his message. _Why do I have to thank you then?_ But before he pressed the send button, he realized what she must have meant with it.

**Levi: there's no client, is there?  
**

_This woman is the demon_ _in person,_ Levi thought and pretended to be annoyed by the fact that Blondie played such a cheap trick on him. He put his mobile aside and began to arrange the ingredients he would need for the meal. His phone beeped while he was washing the vegetables and he had to fight the urge to stop his work to check the message. When he opened it, a selfie, which showed Nanaba and Mike with their thumbs up, appeared on the screen. The caption was ‘ _get her, shorty’._

“Fucking idiots,” Levi mumbled and decided to ignore them. However, as he chopped the vegetables, he got a better idea. He stabbed the knife through the aubergine, taking a picture of it and sent in Nanaba.

**Levi: practising for the next time I see you**

“I’m not sure if I want to know what you’re doing,” Levi suddenly heard Hanji’s voice behind him, and he nearly dropped his phone. He turned around to see Hanji standing in the door, a silly grin across her face.

“Shut up, I’m snapchatting with Blondie,” he said and in the very moment those words left his mouth, he regretted them. Snapchatting? Seriously, what the hell was he now, a fucking teenager?

Hanji’s grin grew even wider. “Oh, and I thought you like to take pictures of your prey.” She sat down at the table across the oven and observed Levi’s face slowly turning red. “I didn’t know you can cook,” she quickly changed the topic, before he would get the idea to throw the knife at her.

“I learnt it from my adoptive mother,” he said and turned his back to Hanji in order to continue with the vegetables.

“After your parents died? I thought you grew up with your grandparents or other relatives,” she admitted and Levi was glad that she couldn’t see the disdainful grin on his face when he thought about his relatives.

“Did you forget that I’ve killed a cop? Nobody wanted a criminal in their house,” Levi said, trying to sound indifferent, and shrugged his shoulders.

Hanji seemed to think about this information and Levi added the rest of the ingredients in the pan. After that, he put two wine-glasses on the table.

“They say that the Spanish Rioja pairs well with Ratatouille,” he said as he poured the wine in. “I hope you like this one?”

“The only wine I’ve drunk so far is the cheap supermarket-carton-wine,” Hanji stated and laughed at Levi’s disgusted mien. “Excuse me, but I never had the money for a 70 $ bottle.”

Levi chose to ignore her comment and sat down as well.

“Do you still have contact with your adoptive mother?” she asked him, interested.

“She’s dead,” Levi answered briefly.

“Oh … How long did you live with her?”

“You ask too many questions,” Levi complained, but he decided to tell her the story anyway. “7 months. She couldn’t have kids, so she decided to adopt some. When the youth welfare office brought me to her home, there were already two other kids around the same age as I; Isabel and Farlan. Elenoire cared for us as if we were her own children, and then she died in a car accident.”

“That’s horrible,” Hanji stated and both of them stayed quiet for a while. “What happened after that?”

“We got dragged from one family to the next, because no one really wanted us. One day, we decided to run away and we hid in one abandoned building. Izzy fell ill and Farlan and I had to steal so that we could survive somehow. Someday, Farlan got caught by some guys from a shady organisation. The leader promised me that he’d help Izzy if we start working for him.”

“The Mafia?”, Hanji interrupted him.

“No, some other idiots, which wanted to see Erwin dead and the Recon Corps destroyed.”

“And how come you joined the Corps, if you've worked for their enemy?” Hanji was leaning forward as much as the table between them allowed her, as if she was afraid she wouldn’t hear Levi when she sat normally.

“I joined them in order to kill Erwin,” Levi answered. He watched Hanji’s eye grew bigger in surprise. “However, it was nearly impossible for a newbie to get close to the Don. Therefore I had to fulfill my orders better than the rest, so I’d catch his attention.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I earned his trust and realized that I like Erwin’s views better than _the Leaders’_. The organisation, however, realized that I was about to change teams. They killed Farlan and threatened to do the same with Izzy if I don’t carry out the mission. I asked _the Leader_ if I can meet up with him and when I got the chance, I shot him. Three bullets and his body sank into the Sina-river and was never found.”

“And Izzy?” Hanji hardly dared to breathe. However, the way Levi’s expression changed from angry to sad, told her everything. _Oh no, poor boy_ – she thought dolefully.

/

“What kind of stupid reason did you tell your boyfriend when you broke up?” Levi suddenly asked. After they’ve eaten, they moved to the living room with another bottle of wine. Hanji’s gaze was still fixed on the TV, Levi registered how she blushed, though. “Oi, shitty glasses, don’t ignore me!”

“You’ll laugh at me when I tell you,” Hanji mumbled.

“Have you ever seen me laugh?”

Finally, she looked at him. “I told him that I have another man.”

Levi couldn’t suppress the smirk that crossed his face. “So, now I’m your lover? I’m honored that you enjoyed the kiss so much to think about me in such a way.”

Hanji turned bright red and hid her face in her hands. “This is even worse than laughing, “she mumbled. “I’m going to bed.”

Levi watched her step away with an amused look. “Do you want me to accompany you?” he asked and Hanji abruptly stopped.

 _Like hell I’m letting you be the only one who has fun with this;_ she thought and turned around, a sweet smile on her face. “Yes!”

Proud with herself, she realized how that answer caught Levi off guard.

“Why so surprised, we’re lovers after all, aren’t we?” she asked mawkishly and left the room, wondering if he’d follow.

///

“Jesus, do you know how late it is?” Nile barked in his mobile.

“I want to make a deal with you, Agent Dawk,” the voice on the other line said.

Confused, Nile removed the mobile from his ear, to check which number had called him. He could have sworn that it was his contact person in the Corps, the voice on the other line didn’t belong to them though.

“Who are you and what did you do t-"

“That doesn’t matter now. Fact is; you and I have the same objectives; we both want to eliminate the Recon Corps.”

Nile sat up in his bed. Whoever the person on the other line was, they got his full attention now.

“You bribed the wrong person to provide you information, because this poor soul couldn’t fully betray the boss,” the voice continued and Nile realised, that it was true. Their mole did tell him crucial things; however, it was always last minute.

“Meet up with me tomorrow and I promise you that by the end of that day, the Recon Corps won’t be nothing more than an annoying memory.”

/


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Isn’t it a beautiful sight?”, the voice on the other side asked and Levi’s whole body convulsed at the sound of it. No, this wasn’t possible.
> 
> “How?”
> 
> The voice on the other line laughed snidely. “You mean how I am alive? Didn’t you realise, Levi? I’m a shadow and you can’t kill a shadow.”

An unknown melody was the first thing she heard. As the sound became louder with every second, Hanji realized that it must be the radio or a mobile. She slowly opened her eyes and turned to the right side, where the melody came from. It was still dark in the room. She saw the blurry outlines from Levi as he sat up to reach over for his phone.

“What is it?” he asked hoarsely and leaned back against his pillow, as if he wanted to continue his sleep.

“What!?” All the sleepiness was out of his voice as Levi now jumped out of the bed, hitting the light switch above the bedside table. Hanji closed her eyes at the sudden brightness.

“I’ll be there in 15 minutes,” she heard Levi say and blinked a few times to get used to the light. Slowly, she sat up and her eyes followed Levi as he went towards the wardrobe. His grey sweatpants were hanging loosely on him, his upper body bare. Hanji couldn’t help but stare at the pair of wings, which was tattooed over his whole back, with the word ‘Freedom’ over it.

“Yes, she is,” he said as he opened the wardrobe. “No, you’re right. It’d be the safest for her to stay here.” With those words he hung up and threw the mobile on the bed. Hanji watched him pulling off the sweatpants and taking out a black pair of jeans and socks. He looked in Hanji’s direction as he put them on. “You mind staying alone for a while?”, he asked.

She shook her head. “Did something happen?”

Levi pulled out a black t-shirt and slipped into it. “I don’t know. Mike just called and told me to come to their place as soon as possible.” The next thing he took out of the closet was a protection vest.

As he put it on, Hanji got alarmed. This was the first time she saw him do that. “Levi, what the hell are you going to do?”

Levi knelt down and took a gun out of the lower cupboard. “Emergency situation,” he said and walked around to the side where Hanji was sitting.

“Look, I don’t know how serious it is but,” he paused and cocked the gun, causing Hanji to wince; “if anyone besides Mike or Erwin comes in the flat, use the gun.”

“What?” Hanji whined, eyes going round in fear.

“Just promise me, you’ll use the gun if it comes to it,” Levi said impatiently. He put the gun down on the bedside table. “I’ll have my phone with me, but don’t call if it isn’t absolutely necessary, ok?”

She nodded. “When will you come back?”

“I don’t know.” He gave her a last glance and turned around, stepping away from the bed.

“Levi?” Hanji called out, grabbing the hem of his shirt. She looked at him with big eyes. “Be careful, ok?”

With one quick turn he was at her side again, leaning over her and pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. “You’re worrying too much,” he mumbled and with these words he walked off.

/

13 minutes later, Levi arrived at the meeting point. Mike and Nanaba were standing next to his Jeep, worried expressions on their faces. Levi stopped his bike next to them, taking off his helmet. “What happened?”

They were in front of the building near the Sina-bridge, where the MP had nearly caught Levi and Hanji some weeks ago. “You should see it yourself,” Mike said and pointed to the building. “It’s not a pretty sight, though.”

Levi shoved his helmet in Mike’s hands as he passed past him. The blonde just stayed there, while Nanaba followed Levi inside. Already at the entrance, he could see that somebody had forced the door open. Inside, the hallway didn’t look any better. The door to every room was burst open, the rooms behind it rummaged. At the end of the corridor, there was the ‘meeting’ room and Levi had a bad feeling as he approached it. The door was hanging loose in the hinges. Levi stepped closer to look inside the room. Before, he had thought that Mike had warned him about the mess in the building, now, however, he realised that Mike was talking about the terrible sight that now greeted Levi. There was a table in the middle of it and Levi guessed that somebody from the Corps had previously put it in for some reason. Next to the table there were two bodies, lying with their face down, so that he couldn’t recognize them. There was blood all over the table and the floor.

“Hannah and Thomas Wagner,” Nanaba said as she stepped beside Levi. “They were supposed to pack up the pills we had to send to Stohess. Whoever their attacker was, they’ve took goods worth $ 10.000 with them.”

“Have you checked our other buildings?”, Levi asked and turned away from this scene.

“No, we arrived here just when Mike called you. We wanted to check if they were done, because no one answered their phone.”

They stepped outside, where Mike was still waiting on the same spot where they’ve left him.

“We need to check out the other buildings as well,” Levi told him.

Mike nodded and went to the drivers’ door. “Leave the bike here.”

On their drive to the other part of the city, Levi was sitting next to Mike while Nanaba was on the backseat. She was bending over it and searching for something in the trunk. “Shorty, you have any weapons?”

“Only my Baretta,” he said.

“I have an AK47 back here, you can have one,” she said and pulled it out, heading it to him. “You have a vest?”

“I thought that I was the arms dealer and not you,” Levi said with a grin. It was to be expected, that Mike would have every possible weapon in his car. “You can give me more ammo though.”

/

20 minutes later, they arrived at the building where they normally held their deals. Mike passed by and stopped a few meters down the road. “There’s a van from the MP,” he said, pointing at it.

Nanaba and Levi glanced at it. “You think we should risk it? I can’t see any policeman.”

“Mike, stay here and keep the car ready to leave,” Levi ordered. “Blondie and I’ll go check whether there's someone of us inside or not.”

Mike nodded and Nanaba was putting on her vest on the back seat. “Let’s do it,” she grinned and jumped out of the car.

They sneaked up to the building, scanning the area for some cops. However, there was nobody. This building had been used as warehouse, so it was only one big room. Nanaba and Levi knew exactly where someone could hide inside, so they decided to enter through the back door. Levi slowly opened it and the first thing that greeted him, was Erd’s corpse, with three shots in the chest. Levi inhaled sharply and he saw Nanaba cover her mouth in shock. They passed the body and stepped further inside. Only a few steps further, Aorou’s body was leaning against some dusty boxes. “3 shoots in the chest,” Nanaba whispered as she pointed at them.

“That’s not the work from the MP,” Levi spoke under his breath. The uneasy feeling he had in the last building, only grew bigger as he stood here now.

Nanaba squeezed his arm lightly and moved on. Levi saw her disappearing behind a container and seconds later, he heard her scream. The blood in Levi’s veins froze at the sound. He ran in her direction, his gun held in front of him. When he turned around the corner, he saw only Nanaba standing there. “What the hell was this?” he hissed, however, as he stepped closer, he saw what scared her. This time, it was Petra’s body on the floor. On the contrary to Aourou and Erd, she didn’t have the three bullets through her chest. Her throat was slashed, and her mouth covered with a tape. Just in this moment, Levi’s phone started ringing.

He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. 

**_Incoming call: Petra._ **

With trembling fingers, he pressed _answer,_ only to find out, that his worst fears had come true.

“ _Isn’t it a beautiful sight?_ ”, the voice on the other side asked and Levi’s whole body convulsed at the sound of it. _No, this wasn’t possible._

“How?”

The voice on the other line laughed snidely. “ _You mean how I am alive? Didn’t you realise, Levi? I’m a shadow and you can’t kill a shadow._ ”

Levi tightened the grip around his phone.

“ _Why so quiet? Aren’t you glad that the man who saved you years ago is still alive?_ ”, the voice, _\- no, the Leader_ – let out a huff what seemed to be a laughter. “L _et me tell you a last thing, this will be the day the Corps will get down. And by the end of this day, you will be sorry to ever have turned your gun at me._ ”

With those words, the line was dead.

“We need to arrive at the headquarters before them!”, Levi almost shouted and started running towards the exit.

Without any questions, Nanaba ran after him.

/


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then, another few shots echoed, before the building fell into a sinister silence.
> 
> Without thinking twice, Levi run upstairs. When he arrived at the last step, he heard another shot and he could swear that he felt the bullet passing him by only a few millimeters. He looked at the direction where the shot came from.

Mike had known Levi for quite some time and he even had a mission with him now and then, but the blonde had never seen Levi so upset like this time.

Levi and Nanaba came rushing towards the car, almost colliding with it. They ripped the doors open and jumped in. Before they even closed the doors behind them, not to mention fastening their seat belts, they started both shouting at the same time. “Get a move on!” “Get going!” “Drive, Mike!”  
Mike stepped on the gas, causing Nanaba to fall down on the seat at the sudden ruck.

“Where?” he finally asked as the car moved away from the building.

“Headquarters,” Levi answered panting. He took a few deep breaths to calm down his breathing. He couldn’t remember when he had sprinted like that for the last time. “It looks like the MP is working together with the Leader.”

Mike nodded and sped up. He knew what that meant. He had been there when Levi first joined the Recon Corps, after all. He knew the story about this leader, as well as the fact that he was supposed to be dead. “Was there somebody inside?”, he asked.

“Erd, Aourou and Petra,” Nanaba piped up from the backseat.

Mike was already going extremely over the speed limit of the town. The way he steered the car in a reckless slalom over the highway reminded Levi of Rainer’s driving skills.

“We need to inform Erwin about this,” Mike suddenly suggested.

Levi put his mobile out with an annoyed sigh. On the one hand, contacting Erwin would mean that they didn’t have things under control and Levi hated this more than anything else. He still felt like he could manage this disaster without the Don’s help. But on the other hand, Erwin had a right to know what was going on. He dialed Erwin's number.

_“Levi?”_

“The MP is working together with the Leader,” Levi said, coming straight to the point.

He heard Erwin inhale sharply on the other line. _“So that’s the reason why the MP suddenly has good shooters.”_

“What do you mean with good shooters?”, the raven asked alarmed.

_“There are two vans from the MP outside the HQ and their men are trying to get in. We just wondered how come that they suddenly knew how to deal with weapons.”_

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE HQ?”, Levi yelled in his phone. Mike gave him a worried side glance.

There was a pause on the other side and even without seeing Erwin; Levi could only all too well imagine the stupid expression that this dork now probably had. “ _That’s actually a funny story.”_

“Erwin, I swear to god, if you now tell me that Sasha has baked a cake and invited you over, I’ll kill you.” This scenario indeed wasn’t unusual. Sasha often cooked for the members that were stationed in the quarters and sometimes even Erwin would come over. However, if the Don of the Recon Corps would get killed today while eating one of Sasha’s cakes, Levi swore to god that he’d bring Erwin back to life, only to kill him again for this stupidity.

 _“If I were in your spot, I’d hurry up. Otherwise you won’t have the chance to do so,_ ” Erwin’s tone was serious again. _“How long do you need to get here?”_

“About 2 minutes.”

_“Is your squad with you?”_

“They had the privilege to meet the Leader. I’m with Mike and Nanaba,” Levi said dryly and he hung up. There was no need to explain anything else. Nor was there a reason to wait for Erwin’s reply. It wouldn’t change anything.

Several blocks away from their HQ, there was a police road block.

“Do we have to spare anyone?” Mike asked and Levi shook his head with a wicked grin; “It’s only a kid. You don’t need to kill him.”

“Sir, you can’t go on. I must ask you to take another route,” a young policeman said as Mike stopped the car next to him.

“Oh, really?” the blonde asked amused, pointing a gun at the youngster; “You have three seconds to remove the block.”

The boy grew stiff and looked at Mike with big eyes. The MP obviously didn’t reckon that there was a chance of other Mafia members coming from somewhere else, so they put some inexperienced kid there to lead the traffic away.

“One,” Levi said threateningly from his place, raising his gun.

The boy in front yelped and stumbled forward to remove the road block. This sure would cause him trouble with his superior, which he’d choose over being shot anytime.

“That was easy,” Mike laughed when they passed.

“Tsk, it was boring.”

/

Mike stopped the car in a back alley, before the troops that were stationed in front of the HQ could notice them. They’ve already discussed their strategy: Mike would stay in the car again, in case they would need a getaway car. Levi and Nanaba would check the situation and interfere if necessary. Their main purpose, however, was to get Erwin away from the assassins of the Organization.

Now they were standing in front of the car, checking the connection of their headsets again. “Ready to leave?” Levi asked.

Nanaba nodded and looked up to Mike. “Be careful,” he whispered as he bent down to kiss her.

“I will,” she breathed against his lips, connecting them again for a second, before she finally pulled back and stepped out of Mike’s embrace. She gave him a last smile, before she hurried to catch up with Levi.

Levi needed all his willpower, not to roll his eyes. _Stupid lovers._

/

There were three vans just outside the building; blocking the driveway to the underground garage and one other vehicle was a parked two blocks away. At least 15 men in full SWAT-equipment were hiding behind the two vans, a few of them trying to get inside the building without getting hit from the shots that were fired out of the window from the second floor. Unfortunately, a lot of them succeeded in this task, since they were fully armoured, only leaving a few weak spots open.

“Should we take care of those outside?”, Nanaba asked in a low voice.

Levi shook his head. “They’re too many for us. We need to get inside, and then we could take care of them as soon as they step inside.”

They turned into another back alley, which would lead them on the road behind the headquarters. As they run along, Levi wondered why Erwin didn’t position someone armed in the first floor, so that they could shut down their opponents as soon as they entered the building. When they arrived at the end of this small road, however, he got his answer. There was another van, this time without anyone around it and the windows on the back side of the building had been broken, even though they were made out of bulletproof glass. They sneaked along the wall to the first window. Levi checked whether the coast was clear, before they climbed inside.

“We need to get Erwin out,” he said in a low voice and Nanaba nodded; a serious expression on her face. “Back me up, but pay attention not to kill one of us … or get killed.”

They sneaked their way to the door, and Levi slowly pushed it open, entering the hallway at gunpoint. They slowly made their way to the staircase and it didn’t take long, before Nanaba fired the first shots behind him. Due to the armoured uniform, the only vulnerable point of the policeman was their face, which in turn caused a fucking mess when you actually hit them. As they continued their way, there were gunshots echoing through the whole building. When the two of them arrived at the stairs, Levi saw one policeman crouching on the last step, his gun pointed at the hallway in front of him. _This fucking idiot must be from the MP_ ; Levi thought when he saw him, because how unprofessional do you have to be to sit on the stairs with no backup? If it hadn't been for the helmet that he was wearing, Levi would have shot him from behind. Now, however, he had to get to him, risking to be discovered on his way up. Halfway, the noise upstairs broke off, causing the guy in front to stand up and run ahead. Then, another few shots echoed, before the building fell into a sinister silence.

Without thinking twice, Levi run upstairs. When he arrived at the last step, he heard another shot and he could swear that he felt the bullet passing him by only a few millimeters. He looked at the direction where the shot came from.

Sasha was standing there, a gun in her hand, her eyes wide in shock. “Oh god, oh god. I’m so sorry, I thought that you were from the police,” she stuttered as she recognized him. Luckily, she had been able to move her hand to the side fast enough; otherwise she’d be the responsible one for killing the most dreaded man from the Underground. In the same moment, the Titan-Trio came running to her. Levi didn’t miss the bloodstains that were everywhere over them. Fubar was re-tightening his vest, while Leonhardt and Braun were tossing away the empty ammo clips of their weapons, replacing them with new ones.

“Good that you came,” Rainer said when he saw Levi and Nanaba.

“How’s the situation?”, Nanaba asked.

Rainer shook his head helplessly. “We were caught off guard; I think they’ve killed at least 20 of our team. We three will try to get rid of those assholes down there, so that Sasha can bring away the injured.”

“I have already given them first aid,” Sasha now piped up. “But maybe you want to bring Don Smith away yourself? He’s in the dining hall.”

That was all the information Levi needed. He nodded and told them to be careful, before he ran towards the door at the end of the hallway. On the short way there, he stepped over several dead bodies, both from the Corps and from the MP. In the dinning hall, here were several members of the Corps, most of them had bandages around their limbs. Some of them, like Ymir, didn’t look good at all. Before he could even see Erwin, Levi heard him. The Don was sitting on a chair, his mobile in his left hand, while his right arm was placed on the table next to him. However, Levi couldn’t see how bad his injury was, or whether he even had one, because Historia was blocking the view on the Don's arm.

/

Smith had a stern mien as he gave instructions over the phone. The Military Police and the Organization had started a war against him and the Recon Corps and Erwin sure as hell wouldn’t let them win. He would admit that they’ve won round one, yes, but this was just the start. Erwin was now talking to Dita Ness, instructing him to send some of his men and weapons to Trost. He hoped that that would be enough, but should it be necessary, Erwin knew that he could also reckon on Dmitry and the Chinese to help him in this fight.

“Captain, thanks heavens you’re here,” Historia suddenly said and only now, Erwin noticed the presence of Levi and Nanaba.

“What happened?” the raven yelped when he saw Erwin’s right hand.

Historia was pressing bandages on it, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. “He was downstairs with the guys and he got at least four bullets and they’re still in,” she whined feebly.

“Nanaba, contact Pixis, he needs to prepare for an emergency surgery,” Levi ordered and the woman pulled her mobile out, dialing the number of Erwin’s doctor.

“Why the hell did you have to be in the thick of action?”, Levi asked angrily and Erwin only grinned, contorted with pain.

“I can’t sit around in the safe and let my people die, can I?”

“Can you walk?” Levi asked instead of commenting Erwin’s question. “Mike’s car is two blocks down.”

/

On their way out, they met Annie and Berthodt, who were running upstairs. “We took care of the situation downstairs,” she said when they passed.

“Make sure to bring the injured to Pixis,” Erwin called after them.

/


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he saw Levi, Kenny frowned and his right hand unconsciously gripped around the handle of his dagger. This midget will pay for what he had done; he thought bitterly. Well, at least one surprise was prepared for them.

Kenny Ackerman was observing the scene from the roof of the building across the headquarters. At the beginning, it went well. The Organization had the surprise-effect on their side and managed to eliminate a few Mafia members, before they could even gather their weapons. Then, things seemed to become almost perfect, as Smith decided to fight in the front rows and got hit. The image of perfection lasted as long as it took Smith to realize what had happened. When the Mafia scum started giving instructions, Ackerman’s plan had failed.

Now he saw Smith running outside with a small blonde person and Levi; at the sight of him Kenny frowned and his right hand unconsciously gripped around the handle of his dagger. This midget will pay for what he had done; he thought bitterly. _Well, at least one surprise was prepared for them._ As he watched them turning into a side street, his mobile started vibrating. He took it out and answered it after he saw who the caller was.

“Have you found something interesting?” His voice had only been a stertorous breathing since he had had his accident.

“ _He doesn’t keep any important files in his flat_ ,” his subordinate replied. “ _However, it seems like we’ve found someone that could be his weak point.”_

 _Someone?_ That was indeed interesting. “Don’t do anything. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

/

“Pixis will be waiting at the hospital,” Nanaba explained and stepped to the passenger door. Oddly, Mike hadn’t started the car when they had approached it. Due to the tinted windows, she couldn’t see what he was doing behind the wheel, though.

Levi opened the back door and held it open for Erwin and climbed in after him.

Mike had his forehead leaning against the wheel. He seemed not to notice that they’ve entered the car.

“Mike, don’t tell me you’ve fallen asleep in those 5 minutes,” Nanaba said in disbelief.

She leaned over from her seat and shook him by his shoulder.

His body felt limp under her hands.

“Baby?”

No reaction.

Panic rising in her, Nanaba used both hands to heave Mike back in his seat.

/

A high pitched scream echoed inside the car.

“Nanaba, what’s …,” Erwin wanted to ask what was wrong, but then he saw what frightened her, because he was sitting right behind Nanaba and had a perfect field of view on the drivers’ seat. The woman jerked the door open and stumbled outside. Mike, now leaning against his seat, had a cut across his whole neck and there was still blood curdling down his chest. His face was twisted into a grotesque grimace.

“Fucking shit!” Levi hissed after he had closed in to Erwin to get a better view forward.

Both of the men climbed out of the car, Erwin slowly approaching Nanaba. She looked at him with a lifeless gaze, but she allowed him to hug her. His unharmed hand slowly stroke over her hair. Fortunately, he didn’t say anything, he just held her in his embrace. Nanaba, leaned with one cheek against Erwin’s chest, her gaze fixed onto the car, as if she could see Mike through the black window of the passenger door.

“We need to get away from here,” she said coldly, not allowing her voice to break. She had no time to show emotions, not when they were in the middle of a war.

“Erwin, can you help me to get him on the backseat?”, Levi asked from the other side of the car. 

Before he made any move, Erwin looked down at Nanaba and then back to Levi.

“Just get him out of the car,” the woman mumbled.

“But,” Erwin wanted to protest. He couldn’t just throw the body of his best friend into a shady ally and drive away.

/

“Erwin, we can’t drive around with a dead body,” she said and no matter how hard she tried to fight against it, her voice cracked. “Just order someone to get him away.”  
With this said, she got back in the car, throwing a side glance at the driver’s seat just as Levi pulled Mike’s body out. Quickly she looked away and seconds later, she heard two doors being shut.

“Nan?” Levi’s voice was quiet and soft, and she tilted her head to look at him.

His usual apathetic mien was now changed with a worried expression. Wordlessly, he handed her something over and Nanaba recognized it as Mike’s necklace he always wore with the ring, she once had bought him, as pendant. Her hands were shaking as she took it.

-

„ _I have something for you~“_

_“Oh, really? What is it?”_

_“Here!”_

_“A ring? Is this a proposal?”_

_“No, you asshole. Its only purpose is to show those stupid wannabe supermodels which cling to you every Friday night that you’re spoken for.”_

_“I'm not sure I like the purpose. … Nana? That was a joke. Oooh. Come on baby, you know that I love you, don’t give me that face. Come here, let me kiss you.”_

_“I can’t believe I fell in love with such a dork.”_

_“But you are in love.”_

_“Yeah … I am.”_

-

A light squeeze on her hand made Nanaba jerk awake from her trance. She looked down at the other hand, which was small and covered in tattoos. _Not Mike's._

“Nan, don’t try to hold it back,” Levi said with a low voice.

In the background, Nanaba heard Erwin’s voice, probably on the phone again, and all the bustle of the city; the cars that passed, sirens somewhere in the distance.

Levi’s dark eyes were fixed on her instead on the street and she could read everything in them he left unspoken. All the feelings, neither he nor Erwin could form proper words to describe, reflected in those grey depths. That was when she finally closed her eyes and let silent tears run down her cheeks, her hand painfully gripping around the necklace.

/

Despite the shock they’ve all went through, Erwin knew that he couldn’t show any weakness, at least not for today. When all this would be over, he would allow himself to drown his feelings in whiskey. Now however, his brain needed to function perfectly.

“Dita?”, he asked as someone picked up on the other line.

_“Yep, it’s me. We need another hour to arrive.”_

“Good. Listen, we have several injured, me included. I’ll need you to work together with Levi and Nanaba, who’ll give instructions in the field,” Erwin explained.

_“Understood. Where should we meet?”_

“The building at the Sina-Bridge. I want permanent radio contact; all the squads on line 4, the computer-team around Rico will be line 6 and I want all squad leaders to be on those two, as well on line 3. Furthermore, I want a report every half hour from now on,” Erwin explained. “Our main goal is to eliminate the Organization; the MP is secondary.”

 _“What should we do with their leader?”_ , Dita asked.

Erwin removed his mobile phone from his ear. “Dita is asking what they should do with the Leader," he told Levi.

“Start the fire as soon as possible, and when the scum is on the floor, for all I care cut him into pieces. They need to be 100% sure that he’s dead,” came the response from Levi and Erwin repeated it on the phone.

/

“We’re here,” Levi announced as he drove into the underground-garage of Pixis' private clinic.

Before Erwin got out of the car, he looked at Nanaba. “Do you think that you’re able to do this?”

She looked at him and gave Erwin a weak smile. Her eyes were bloodshot and full of tears. “Don’t worry, Erwin. As soon as I step out of this car, I’ll be the same as always. Promised.”

The Don nodded with a serious mien. “Good. Don’t forget, I want a short report every half hour.”

At this point, Levi turned back with an annoyed mien. “Yes, we’ve got it the first time you said it. And now get the fuck out before you die because of a blood-loss.”

/

The closer the Jeep came to the meeting-point, the better Nanaba looked. If anyone would see her now, nobody would have guessed what she had been through the last hour.

“Tell me one thing, before we start,” she suddenly demanded.

“What?” Levi raised his brow.

“If anything happens to me today, …”

“Which we both know that it won’t," Levi interrupted her. 

“Sure. But if it does; would you ever tell Erwin the truth about me? I mean, now that Mike won’t ever have the chance to find out about it.” Her voice wasn’t concerned, nor afraid; just curious.

Levi smirked. „Don’t worry, Blondie, that’ll stay our little secret.“

Finally, they could see the Sina-bridge in front. As Levi left the boulevard, he already saw a few vans parked in front of the building.

He stopped the car next to them and stepped outside to greet Dita. They discussed their tactics once more and 15 minutes later, a convoy with 6 black vans led by a Jeep, crossed the Sina-bridge and drove towards the harbour.

/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I know, I hate me for killing Mike as well :((


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Permission to attack. Good luck.

The sight that greeted Ackerman in Levi’s flat was … _strange._ The two guys he had sent there were standing in front of a person on the floor. Coming closer, Kenny realised that he couldn’t really tell whether it was a man or a woman, because they had messy brown hair and were wearing an oversized t-shirt with grey boxers, which were at least 2 numbers too big as well.

“Who, or better _, what_ are you?”, he asked confusedly. This didn’t resemble Levi’s life-style at all, possibly having an affair with such a messy person.

“How fucking rude are you?” the person snapped and gave him a furious glare.

“We think that she’s the midget’s girlfriend,” one of Ackerman’s subordinates piped up.

“Oh, now that your boss is here you suddenly grew some nuts,” the girlfriend commented furiously.

“Easy there,” Ackerman said and stepped closer to her. “Won’t you first tell me who you are and why you are here?”

His question earned another mad glance. “Why does it matter?”

“It depends whether I can use you or not. But if you don’t tell me what I want to know immediately, I’ll have to kill you.”

“My god,” she exclaimed annoyed. “You criminals are so annoying with your death-threats. Seriously, you should look for other strategies to make someone talk, besides killing. No one takes it serious anymore.”

Ackerman and his subordinates starred at her in disbelief. Didn’t this woman understand what was going on? She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her hands tied back. Three criminals – one of them the boss - were standing with weapons in front of her. They didn’t even had the need to shoot, they could as well bludgeon her to death. And yet, in her obviously helpless situation, she had the guts to say things like that.

/

A minute passed and the three idiots were still starring at her. Hanji cursed her own stupidity. It was her fault that those two had the chance to catch her.

She had been in Levi’s bedroom all along, not even changing her clothes she used for sleeping. When she had heard a voice from the living room, she had thought that it may be Levi. She went to check it – without taking the gun with her. Needless to mention, they managed to catch her and now she was here, leaning against the wall, her hands in a painful position behind her back. It hurt, but she didn’t even think about giving them what they wanted. Of course, the threats of them may be serious, but after all her time with Levi, she seemed to have grown immune against them.

Suddenly, the guy that came last – _probably the boss_ – started laughing. At least, Hanji supposed that it should represent laughter. She had noticed before, that his voice was a creepy rattle, but now he sounded like a croaking animal. _Maybe an old Golden Retriever with no vocal cords;_ Hanji decided.

“I must say, first I’ve thought that the petite blonde girl from his team was Levi’s type,” the boss said after he finished making those strange noises. “But now I understand why he fell for this strange woman.” His gaze pierced through Hanji. “Bring her to the quarters and I’ll make sure to rip Levi’s heart in half before I kill him.”

Just as he said that, the two subordinates – _Hanji had named them Sawney and Bean, because they had refused to tell her their names_ – grabbed her arms.

“And how exactly do you plan doing this?”, Hanji asked before Sawney and Bean could drag her outside.

“It’s pretty simple,” the boss started and now Hanji remembered where she had heard such a voice before. _Stars Wars! This guy would make a better Darth Vader than the original Darth Vader himself!_

/

“It’s pretty simple, I will slice you open right in front of his eyes. And he’ll have to watch, fully aware that he can’t help you and that he will be the next.” Ackerman finished with an intimidating look on his face. _My, how will he enjoy sliding his dagger through her long neck?_ The reaction he was expecting now was fear, but this woman started laughing! Slowly, Kenny was sure that she must be on all possible drugs available in this country. Who the hell behaved like that? His pride advised him to kill her that instant, but he tried his best to hold that anger back. He needed her against Levi.

“Will you use the force?” she asked with a grin and started laughing again at her joke that neither Ackerman nor his subordinates understood.

“Get this crazy woman out!”, he ordered angrily.

As they disappeared towards the elevator at the end of the corridor, he could hear her laughter echoing through the whole floor.

“ _Get it? Use the force? It’s from Sta- …_ ” the rest of her sentence was cut off when the doors of the elevator slid close.

_You will pay for laughing at my face._

/

**\+ Met up. Repeated the plan. Now heading for the harbour. D.+**

**\+ Split in 2 groups. One group will attack from water. Nanaba is with them. L.+**

**\+ Need 4 motorboats. I’ll make sure no one touches yours. N.+**

**\+ Security cameras in the area under our control. MP is too distracted from team X. Suggestion for immediate attack. R. +**

**\+ Target in front. Positioning the teams. Attacking in 10 min if we don’t get an answer. L. +**

Those were the messages Erwin read, as he woke up from anesthesia. The last one was sent 5 minutes ago.

The surgery took longer than expected, because, towards the end, there were severe complications. The bullets he took injured important muscles and veins, so that Pixis and his team had no other choice than cutting the arm off. At least the nurse, that was in his room when he woke up, had explained it to him that way.

“You can’t even be under narcosis without having your phone out,” a voice next to his bed made Erwin look up.

Pixis was approaching him and giving the nurse a nod to signalize that she could now leave the room. “The surgery was very complicated,” Pixis started, but Erwin raised his intact hand, which was still holding the phone.

“I’m sorry, Dot. But you’ll have to explain it another time. I’m sure that you’ve done everything in your power. What about the ones Sasha brought?”

“Everyone out of mortal danger, thanks to the first aid your girls managed to give,” the doctor explained. He wanted to add how important it was that the girls had managed to work neatly, even under such circumstances. But Pixis knew that the Don didn’t have any time for it now.

“Good,” Erwin nodded and was about to get out of the bed. “I need a transport to the ‘Titan’.”

“A guy named Gunther arrived 10 minutes earlier, claiming to be your driver. If that’s not the case, I can send you with one of my assistants,” the elder offered.

“Gunther? I thought Levi’s team was dead,” Erwin mumbled, before he looked up to Pixis and gave him a warm smile. “It’s perfectly fine. Thank you for your offer.” He stood up. “I assume I’ll have to get a therapy for the lost arm?”

“And I assume that water is wet,” Pixis said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. “Be here tomorrow or the day after, and in the meantime you can use those pills. But don’t take more than 4 a day.”

Now, that Erwin was holding his phone in his intact _– in his only_ – hand, he seemed to just now realize that the other arm was gone, as he wanted to stretch it out to take the bottle.

“I’ll give it to your driver,” Pixis said and started walking out of the room.

Erwin didn’t move. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath _. His right arm was gone_. But he couldn’t panic, not now. He exhaled and repeated the procedure. He needed to calm down; a panic attack won’t help anyone. Nanaba had suffered a greater loss and despite it, she was fighting now. Erwin shook his head, as if all the thoughts would go away if he did so. Before he left the room, he sent two texts to his squad leaders outside.

**\+ Permission to attack. E.S.+**

**\+ Good luck. E.S.+**

/

“Permission to attack guaranteed,” Levi spoke in his headset. “Team A, you guys can start. Team B, stay on stand-by.”

He heard several “ _Roger_ ” as answer, before a rustle indicated that someone was in the line again.

“ _Titan-Trio reporting for duty_ ,” Rainer’s voice echoed.

Levi simply knew that he only had to turn around to see this dork. And indeed, the three seemed to have found Team L on their own. Rainer was standing in the middle, his hands on his hips and a wide grin across the face. Bertholdt, nervous as always, and Annie, disinterested as always, standing next to him, everyone fully equipped. “Do you know the plan?”, Levi asked. He wasn’t annoyed by their arrival; on the contrary, he could use such soldiers as them. What’s more; their presence here meant that all the injured have been taken to hospital already.

“Get in and kill,” came the response from Rainer, who now took out his machine-gun.

“ _You’ve let out a few details, but altogether it’s right,_ ” Nanaba’s voice cracked through their headsets.

“ _Team D entering the terrain as well_.” It was Dita’s voice.

“ _Team N leaving in exactly 7 minutes. Don’t mess up_.”

What followed next was completely chaos.

/

The headquarters of the Organization took over a huge space in the harbour, containers ready for the shipping standing everywhere in the area. The main building, which resembled a warehouse, was divided in three parts, as Levi knew. The biggest one was the actual warehouse, with an exit into the water. The second part were the offices on the second floor, built exactly that way that you can have an overview over the one half of the warehouse, which wasn’t directly under the office-block. The third and most interesting part was the cellar, hidden directly under the water. There was the office from the Leader, as well as the storage for all important files and the labors; the Organisation dealt with medicines, having Cuba as their main purchaser.

_“Team A starting.”_

35 seconds passed. Then, the first shootings echoed somewhere between the containers.

_“Team D following.”_

Ness’ team attacked from the opposite side, hoping they could trap their opponents in a corner.

“Team B, make sure no one’s on the containers,” Levi ordered.

3 sheer endless minutes later, the long awaited “Clear” came.

“Team L starting,” Levi announced as they all jumped out of the van, heading for the building. “Give us backing!"

/


	20. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suddenly, the door flew open. Nile jumped startled to the side and stopped the annoying running. Ackerman gave the subordinate that entered a questioning look.
> 
> “Doesn’t look good, Leader,” the man in front of him said. “One of their teams managed to get inside.”

For the first time in her life, Hanji wished to be dead.

Because then, she wouldn’t have to feel all this pain. Her hands were still tied back, but this time she was sitting on a chair in a room without windows. The light-pipes on the ceiling drenched the room with a cold, fluorescent light, making _Bean_ next to her appear terrifying. Sawney had left with their boss five minutes ago, after another man was busting into the room, reporting that they were under attack. Hanji wondered if it was the Recon Corps who attacked them, and if Levi was with them. It definitely hadn't been a good idea to make fun of their boss. He was furious and Hanji was keenly aware that the only reason he didn’t kill her was because he needed her later. But having to stay alive didn’t mean that he wouldn’t hurt her. And oh, this son of a bitch was a psychopathic maniac when it come to torturing somebody. She felt like several bones in her body were broken, most notably her rips. Her whole body ached and all she wanted was to fall asleep. But every time her head would tilt to one shoulder, she would get a punch from Bean, reminding her silently to stay awake.

/

The way to the hall was safe, since Levi’s team had backing from above. Nevertheless, the raven knew that they had to be careful; there could always be someone jumping out behind one of the numerous containers. As they were forcing their way through, Levi wondered whether the Leader would try to get away by boat. If he was there, he surely had heard them coming. The only question was if he really wanted to fight alongside with his subordinates, or run away from his certain death. _But even if you run away, the Corps have some nicely equipped boats as well_ ; Levi thought confidently. Nanaba had some talented drivers as well as snipers with her.

/

**\+ Entering the building. D. +**

**\+ Attention, MP heading over to the harbour. R. +**

**\+ We’re in a fucking fight and you seriously have time to send those stupid messages? L.+**

**\+ Shorty, maybe you haven’t realized, but you just wrote one yourself. N. +**

**\+ And I have to hide behind a stupid container with two men holding guard to do so. Fuck your reports. I won’t search a shelter every time to write this shit. You’ll have your damn report after we’ve killed them all. We’re going in. Levi out! +**

/

“I don’t want to do this! You promised that the Corps won’t exist after today, but it looks more like you won’t exist anymore.”

Kenny slowly let his fingers run in small circles over his temples. For the last minutes Dawk had been running up and down in the small office, his voice getting more and more hysteric. “Would you already stop?” he snapped.

“No, I don’t want to die,” Nile almost screamed. 

The Leader felt the urge to strangle him on the place. “If you want to leave; I won’t stop you.”

For a second, Nile stopped and looked at Kenny. It seemed like he actually considered to do so.

“But the moment you walk away, you’ll be treated as an enemy,” Ackerman added.

The Agent in front of him opened his mouth to say something, but it seemed that he changed his mind in the last second. Instead, he just continued walking up and down in the room, cautiously avoiding looking at Ackerman again. He made eight steps, before the wall build up in front of him. He made a rather jerky rotation and made his way to the other side of the room. When he arrived at the other wall, he turned around and repeated the procedure. _Like a wild animal in a cage._

Suddenly, the door flew open. Nile jumped startled to the side and stopped the annoying running. Ackerman gave the subordinate that entered a questioning look.

“Doesn’t look good, Leader,” the man in front of him said. “One of their teams managed to get inside.”

Before Ackerman even got the chance to reply to that, Nile let out a desperate yelp. “I’m out! I don’t care what you do, but I’m out!” With those words the lanky Policeman rushed past the subordinate out of the room.

“And how do you plan to escape? The exit is under their control,” Ackerman reminded him calmly, before Dawk was out of hearing area.

“With a boat,” Nile shouted back with a high pitched voice.

Ackerman and the subordinate looked behind Nile, until he disappeared behind the next door.

“What are the orders?”

“Send one team away with the drugs, give them two motorboats. The Corps may be at the door, but we still can escape over water. I want the rest to defend the quarter. Also, tell Jim to bring the woman on the roof.”

“Understood.”

/

“I thought Levi’s team was dead,” Erwin said to Gunther, as they were standing inside the 'Titan'. Now however, it resembled a call-center more than a nightclub. Rico and her team had built up their computer-equipment in the club lounge and now, all the six members were focused at their screens. They were working silently, except every now and then one of them would say a few sentences - which involved too many abbreviations and numbers for Erwin to understand - the rest would nod or answer briefly, before they would fall silent again.

“I was only lucky that I wasn’t at home when the Organization wanted to come for me and that they didn’t had the time to wait,” Gunther answered with a shrug.

“You were outside at 6 in the morning?” Erwin asked with a notably suspicious voice.

“It’s because of the instruction Levi gave me,” Gunther answered. Knowing that Erwin can become impatient when he had to worm every word out of someone, the man quickly continued to explain himself. “Yesterday he was suddenly standing in my house and said that he needs me to do a research about the other members of our squad, because he suspects that one of us is the mole. First I was thunderstruck that he chose to trust me with this. However, as I managed to hack myself into their databases, I realized that they also were running investigations about the squad themselves. All except one.”

What Gunther didn’t know was the fact that Erwin already knew so much. That was one of Levi’s old tactics about finding spies on the team. He would give every person the feeling that he trusted only them with this work. Then he let them investigate each other without them even realising that the rest of the team had the same task. The result would be two different names: In this case 3 people would have the same name, and only the spy would put the blame on someone else. Until now, this tactic had always worked.

“So you think that they are the mole, only because they didn’t start the investigation right away?” Erwin needed to be sure whether Gunther had real evidences or only assumed things.

“I _know_ that they are the mole, Sir. But not because of this reason. I found out that they had contact with Nile Dawk for the last 3 weeks.”

 _So my suspicion is confirmed;_ Erwin thought and didn’t know whether he was glad that he had been right from the start, or angry because that meant Levi was betrayed by one of the few people the raven thought he could trust.

“As soon as I found this out, I left my house to confront them,” Gunther continued; “only to witness that the Organization found them before I did.”

/

The gate of the warehouse opened and a motorboat shoot out through it. Nile didn’t even throw a look back; he only wanted to escape as quickly as possible. Like hell he would die for this shady person that called himself the Leader. Truth be told, the guy had been so convincing that Nile had believed him right away. Now however, he had realized that all this guy could do was talking big. It surprised Nile that no one seemed to notice that he was escaping. The Agent had expected that the ones of the Corps who weren’t inside the building would try to stop him, by shooting at him and the boat. He drove the boat forward on maximum speed, when he saw two black motorboats coming towards him. Nile’s hart stopped for a second, but they just rushed past him. With an relieved sigh Nile allowed himself to turn his head around, to check whether the two boats were heading for the Organization’s warehouse.

However, the building down the river didn’t seem to be their aim. As soon as they passed his boat, the drivers took a sharp U-turn. Before Nile knew what was happening, the two black boats were next to him. They were somewhat bigger than his "borrowed" motorboat, hence having space for more people. Nile didn’t recognize the ones that were sitting, but he surely did recognize the blonde woman who was standing at the bug in front of the driver. He wondered how the hell she didn’t lose her balance, despite the fact that the boat was jumping over the water-surface.

“Nice to see you again, Agent Dawk!”

The other boat closed in and Nile was too distracted by the murderous glance in her eyes to notice that someone jumped on his boat.

/

**\+ MP will withdraw. Put Dawk out of action. He’s still alive tho. N. +**

/


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Leader looked at Levi. There was so much hatred in raven’s eyes. Kenny knew exactly that all this anger was directed towards him, and it made him feel powerful.

Gunshots and voices were echoing through the open steel door; the sound of bullets hitting steel and pained groans from the ones that got hit. Team L had arrived at the door, waiting for Levi’s next order while they checked their weapons a last time. Levi scanned the area. On this site there was only the steel door and a fire exit staircase from the roof. As he saw the corkscrew stairs, he had a feeling that they wouldn’t meet the Leader inside the building. “Go inside and take orders from Dita,” he said to his team, which looked rather perplexed by this order. However, they didn’t question anything as they set in motion.

  
Levi looked a last time at them, before he went over to the ladder. There was an emergency exit on the first floor, but the ladder lead up to the roof. The raven had had an uneasy feeling about it since he had first saw it. He had the feeling that something would await him up there, but he didn’t know exactly what. Stepping closer, he asked himself whether he should risk it and go up. Maybe, it was just his fucked up imagination, and there wasn’t anything on the roof. Another possibility would be receiving a bullet in the head while climbing up.

_As if he’s stupid enough to wait on the roof for me;_ Levi thought as he started his way up.

/

_Received message:_ **  
Levi: On the roof.**

“Dietrich, drive me back to their quarter,” Nanaba shouted against the wind.

“But if we turn around, we’ll lose track of them,” the man driving the motorboat yelled back.

As predicted by Levi, some of the members from the Organization tried to escape over water. 

“Do it before we move even further away from the coast.”

With a last helpless look over to his puzzled colleagues, who didn’t understand what was going on neither, Dietrich performed a sharp U-turn, letting the boat they were chasing escape.

/

_Sawney and Bean_ were hiding behind two of the numerous roof vents – _which were absurdly huge_. They had their guns pointed towards the top of the fire-stairs.

_Like there’s an idiot who’d look for the leader on the roof ;_ Hanji thought and rolled her eyes. She had the feeling that they dragged her here in vain. And to make things worse, the Leader was here as well, running in circles around her and the guy waffled on how he’ll kill her the whole time.

“Drop your gun!” she suddenly heard Bean yell and looked in their direction.

_Oh, there IS an idiot who’d check the roof_ ; she thought and nearly let out a laugh when she saw Levi’s shocked face.

“Ha- … Hanji?”, he exclaimed, his voice full of disbelief. His grey eyes were fixed on Hanji’s face, scanning every millimeter, as if he had to assure himself that it really was her. “How? Why?”

Hanji heard the Leader, who had stopped next to her, chuckle. “Surprised?” he asked self-congratulatory.

“I will fucking kill you!” Levi shouted angrily, but as soon as he made a move forward, Sawney and Bean jumped in his direction and caught him by his arms.

/

Levi was held back by Ackermann’s subordinates while he watched that scum using Hanji as human shield, pressing his dagger against her neck. He couldn’t understand why she was here. _On the roof, standing in front of the Leader_. That was the last possible scenario he imagined while climbing up. It was obvious that Kenny wanted to use Hanji against him. However, the thing that scared Levi was the realization that it worked. Given the fact that it always had been Levi who preached to his subordinates that feelings were nothing more than an emotional break, this realization was ridiculous. The realization that there actually seemed to be a person, he was developing such strong feelings for, scared him.

Ackerman grinned his demonically grin as he dragged Hanji’s head back, exposing her neck to the edge of his knife. “Do you see what you get for trying to kill me?”

Levi gritted his teeth. He tensed up his arms, trying to escape out of the grip from those two gorillas that were holding him. Unfortunately, those two seemed to be as strong as they looked like. Levi was struggling, trying to kick at least one of them in his shinbone. Just one little distraction and Levi was sure that he’d be able to escape them.

“Look at you. When did the great Levi become so pathetic?”

“Comes from the guy who teamed up with the MP,” Levi shot back through gritted teeth.

Ackerman let out a laugh. “They were only a means to an end, which I would have eliminated as soon as they finish their job.” The leader paused and looked Levi in the eyes. “Just like we did with the little mole in your team.”

After those words, Levi stopped with the struggling. Surprisingly, the Leader was talkative. If he used this wisely, he could buy himself more time.

“How did you manage to bribe Petra?”, Levi asked.

“So you did find out it was her?”

“The tape over the mouth and a slashed neck,” Levi said with no emotion in his voice. “That’s the method you use for people who _‘talk too much’_.” The picture of his subordinate flashed before his eyes. The way they had killed her had made Levi angrier than the fact that Petra was the one who betrayed him.

/

“Feelings, Levi,” Ackermann suddenly said. “That’s what hinders humanity from achieving success. And it looks like your little girl wasn’t immune against it. The MP threatened to kill her father.” He laughed outright. “It’s absurd how weak she was and it’s even more ridiculous that you’re not different.”

The Leader looked at Levi. There was so much hatred in raven’s eyes. Kenny knew exactly that all this anger was directed towards him, and it made him feel powerful. The woman in his arms was shifting the weight from one foot on the other, trying her best not to move her head because a wrong move would mean that the grind of the dagger would cut her. She shot him a mad glare and huffed. Ackerman was sure that she would all that willingly like to put her oars in, if he hadn’t silenced her with the tape before.

“It seems like your friend is getting impatient,” Kenny said and slowly stroke his dagger over her neck. “Maybe we should silence her, what do you think?”

“I’d rather hear another one of your stories,” he heard a voice next to him. Before Ackerman could even turn his head, he felt something cold press against his temple. “Drop the knife, asshole.”

/


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If it isn't already too late; he thought frightened as he sank down on his knees next to Nanaba.
> 
> “Is she still alive?” he asked, his voice too loud.

Ackerman’s shocked face with the muzzle of Nanaba’s gun was definitely a sight Levi enjoyed. Even though Levi and the two gorillas faced the direction she had come from the whole time, no one had seen her creeping up to the Leader. The few seconds of confusion she caused, were enough for Levi to break away from the gorillas. With one quick move, he threw himself on the ground and reached for his weapon, he previously had dropped. He rolled on his back, aiming in the direction the gorillas were standing, and pulled the trigger. Only when his magazine was empty, Levi turned his head towards Nanaba. A few feet away, he saw the Leader lying on the floor. Next to him, there was Hanji’s body. Levi’s questioning mien wandered from the bodies up to Nanaba, who was kneeling between them.

“That fucker managed to hurt Hanji before I could put him out of action,” Nanaba uttered, panic leaking through her voice. “Shit, Levi, she’s bleeding!”

Levi jumped back on his feet, stumbling over to them. “Shit,” he hissed as he saw Hanji. Ackerman had managed to cut her. Looking at the wound, Levi couldn’t say how deep it was, but he was sure that the situation was dangerous _, maybe even fatal_. _If it isn't already too late;_ he thought frightened as he sank down on his knees next to Nanaba.

“Is she still alive?” he asked, his voice too loud.

Nanaba run her hand through her hair, a gesture she did when the situation overtaxed her. A gesture, Levi hadn’t see her do for a long time and merely the fact that she did it now, made Levi more anxious than he already was.

“I don’t know. We need to stop the bleeding,” she screamed back.

“How?”

Again that gesture, followed by helpless waving of her hands. This wasn’t the situation Levi and Nanaba were used to. Until this day, they were the ones that took lives away, and not saving them. After all, they were the best assassins among the Recon Corps. Shooting someone from a ridiculous far away distance right between the eyes? Tsk, no problem; bring it on! Having to stop someone from bleeding to death? Weeeeell … shit.

“Press something against the wound!”, Nanaba then shouted.

“Great! What?”

Their panic-stricken gazes scanned the floor around them, as if a first-aid box would appear out of nowhere.

“Your shirt!” Nanaba suddenly exclaimed and Levi followed her order. As he pulled it off, he saw Nanaba pulling out her mobile. The primary shock they’ve experienced seemed to have ebbed away, allowing at least her to think straight again. “Pixis, it’s Nanaba. We need a helicopter to the warehouse at the harbour. Hanji’s throat has been cut open,” she shouted in her phone. “And send an ambulance; I don’t know what the situation downstairs is like.”

/

**\+ Bring the injured out and burn this fucking building down. L.+**

/

“Shouldn’t we ask Erwin first?” Nanaba asked, as her pager received the massage Levi sent out.

They were still standing on the roof, and watched the helicopter that had picked Hanji up disappear somewhere between the skyscrapers in the distance. The corpse of the Leader was behind them, Levi’s and Nanaba’s guns thrown next to it. Both had emptied their magazines on him. Not that it was necessary; Nanaba’s first shot through his head had killed him on the spot. The other bullets were simply out of anger and frustration. _For killing Levi’s team, for killing Mike, for pairing up with the MP, for kidnapping Hanji._

“How did you even manage to come here?”, Levi asked, ignoring Nanaba’s question about asking Erwin.

“I made Dietrich turn around as soon as I got your message. There’s a ladder on that side of the building,” she said and pointed in the direction she had come from. “There was no one and when I climbed up, there were no guards on the roof as well.”

Levi looked in the direction she pointed at and nodded. The Leader was so confident in his victory, that he had made the most careless beginner’s mistake: He hadn’t placed a guard where he should have to avoid an attack from behind.

“If it wasn’t for you, we’d probably be dead,” he said with a low voice.

Nanaba looked surprised at Levi, before she gave him a wide smile. “Not bad for a former cop, huh?”

Levi shook his head and grinned as he took out a cigarette pack out of his pocket, holding it in her direction.

“No, Blondie. Not bad for a badass mafia-girl.”

Nanaba held the cigarette she just took between her fingers and let out a laugh. “Badass, huh?”

“Yes,” Levi said, lightening his cigarette. “And now put that damn cigarette between your teeth and shut up.”

With another laugh, Nanaba obeyed his order. They stood there in silence, watching the smoke of their cigarettes being blown away by the wind. Sirens broke the silence, as the ambulances were approaching the building, followed by clamour from the members that came out of the warehouse.

“Maybe we should go down, before they really blow up the building,” Nanaba said with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah, we probably should,” Levi answered and threw away the stub. Then, he bent down to pick up his jacket and protection vest, he had thrown down in order to take off his shirt. A few feet in front of the stairs, he stopped and put on the jacket. The feeling of leather against bare, sweaty skin was absolutely gross, but Levi didn’t want to run around half-naked in front of his subordinates. When they climbed down, there were already 4 ambulance vehicles parked near the door. There was a hectic bustle, emergency doctors running around, trying to save the injured ones. The members that were lucky enough to avoid getting shot were carrying out either bodies or boxes with drugs and weapons.

When Dita saw Levi and Nanaba, he let out a relieved sigh, running towards them.

“Did we lose many of our team?” Levi asked before the Squad Leader could even open his mouth.

“It was pretty gruesome inside, but the enemy had a bigger loss.”   
“We didn’t catch the Leader, though,” Dita added after a pause.

“Shorty, we forgot to report the most important thing!”´, Nanaba laughed.

Dita looked between her and Levi with a questioning mien. “Don’t tell me …”

“Do you doubt our competence?”, Nanaba asked teasingly, making the other man laugh.

“You don’t want to hear my answer to that one,” he said with a wink.

/

**+9 dead. 14 slightly injured. 5 fatally injured. D.+**

**+KILLED THE LEADER!! N.+**

**+I want a salary increase for that one ;) . N.+**

**+God job. I’m expecting a detailed reports until next Friday. E.S.+**

**+Nanaba, you can keep on dreaming. E.S.+**

**+Tsk. I love you too. N.+**

**\+ and for the record, that was sarcasm. N.+**

/

It was already dark outside, when Levi and Nanaba arrived at the ‘Titan’. Normally, it should be open, but there was a sign on the door that announced that the club was closed. Nonetheless, Nanaba took out her spare key and opened the door for them. Instead of funky lighting and deafening music, they were greeted by a fully illuminated room. Erwin was talking to Rico, while her team packed their stuff together.

“Rico, we’re done here,” one of the guys announced. Rico exchanged another few words with the Don, before she and her team took their leave.

Nanaba disappeared behind the bar and Erwin and Levi were still standing on the same spot. “What the hell happened to your arm?” Levi asked alarmed, after he heard the door close.

“I had bad luck,” Erwin said bitterly. “The bullets damaged important muscles and veins, or something like that.”

After she was sure that Levi had used up his entire vocabulary of swearwords, Nanaba piped up between the two men with a bottle. “How about a drink?”

“What a horrible day.” With a heavy sigh, the Don sat down on one of the black leather sofas in the club-booth. Nanba handed the glasses out and sat down beside him, putting her feet up on the small desk in front.

“Mhm. Outrageous.”

“Totally fucked up.”

They emptied their glasses in silence, everyone engrossed in their own thoughts.

“Still no news?”, Erwin asked Levi, after the raven has checked his phone for the seventh time in three minutes.

Levi only shook his head in response. Pixis had promised that he’ll call him as soon as Hanji’s surgery would be over; and that was hours ago. The mere fact that the surgery lasted that long, made Levi anxious. He wouldn’t forgive himself if she died only because he was so reckless to let her stay in his flat. After all, he should have known that they would examine his apartment.

“It’s not your fault,” Nanaba said as if she could read his thoughts. “She’ll make it.”

“Let’s hope so,” Levi said in a low voice and let himself fall back in the ridiculously soft cushions. Only now, he realised how exhausted he was. He closed his eyes for a second. All the events from today – _waking up next to Hanji_ , _seeing his squad killed, learning that the Leader was still alive, the attack from the Organization, Mike’s death, all that shooting , Hanji being kidnapped, Erwin’s arm_ – were too much. It seemed unreal that so much could happen in merely 10 hours.

A shrill ring jerked Levi out of his thoughts. For a second, he didn’t know where he was, but then he saw Erwin and Nanaba, starting from their sleep as well, and the empty bottle on the table. They must have fallen asleep, but Levi couldn’t tell for how long they’ve been asleep as he had lost track of the time.

Another ring brought him to mind, why he had woken up in the first place. He bent forward to reach for his phone on the table.

**_Incoming call: Dot Pixis (Private)_ **

_/_


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was something unrealistic in the whole act of this funeral-ceremony: Maybe it was the mere fact that there even was a funeral in the first place.

Levi stood at the same spot even as the mass of black clothes and sad faces around them slowly disappeared. His gaze was fixed on the massive white coffin that slowly disappeared in the hole under it. Even after the coffin was gone and the hole was shoveled up, he didn’t move.

There was something unrealistic in the whole act of this funeral-ceremony: Maybe it was the mere fact that there even _was_ a funeral in the first place. Somehow, funerals had a religious aspect to them and holding a religious ceremony for someone who had lived a dishonorable life seemed somehow odd – and no matter what a nice person the dead was, no matter if they’ve ever killed or betrayed someone, the mere fact that they had joined the Mafia in the first place made them ungodly. But maybe, it wasn’t even the previous lifestyle combined with the religious ceremony that irritated Levi. Maybe, it simply felt so strange because, normally, a Mafioso doesn’t get a funeral at all. Most of the Mafia-members that died could never be found again. There was nothing honourable about dying a Mafioso’s death. In the Mafia, you’re a number; you’re just one of many. It depended on your skills and your rank whether your death would even be noticed in the end. Ultimately, not even that mattered, because any ‘ _number_ ’ could be replaced.

A weak grip on his forearm jolted Levi out of his numb trance-like state. “Levi, I asked if we can go now,” Nanaba repeated the question Levi obviously hadn’t heard the first time.

“If you want,” he muttered. Truth was; he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible; he didn’t want to be at this place. The only reason he was standing here at this graveyard was Nanaba. Levi knew that today she needed Erwin’s and his presence the most – today, when she was burying the man she loved. Then, without waiting for him to get going, Nanaba hurried ahead.

“You seemed pretty absent during the ceremony,” Erwin commented with a low voice as the two man were heading towards the car on the parking lot in front of the cemetery as well.

“I don’t really like such places,” Levi mumbled.

When they passed the black metal gates, Erwin’s Audi was the only car standing on the rather large parking. Nanaba was already waiting for them, leaning against the bonnet.

“You two are getting old,” she remarked, but her voice was lacking the usual wit it had.

“Can’t be helped,” Erwin responded with a smile. He took the car-keys out of his pocket and handed them to Nanaba. “Levi, want to join us for lunch or are you heading to the hospital?”

“Sorry to reject your offer, but drop me off at the hospital.”

/

After dropping Levi off at the clinic, Nanaba drove to the ‘Emperor’ hotel, since neither she nor Erwin were in the mood for crowded restaurants. Instead, they ate lunch on the balcony of the Don’s suite.

“I must admit that I feel sorry for you and this view,” Nanaba stated at some point.

Erwin raised his eyes away from the plate in front of him and looked to the right. The so called ‘view’ really was to pity. Only a few meters away from the balcony rail there was a tower block with a concrete facade. “One of the main reasons I never eat on the balcony,” he said with a forced smile.

“If Levi would be here, he’d suggest you to burn it down.”

“That’s the exact reason I only showed him the view from the living room.”

The longer they starred at the building, the uglier it became. It was actually beyond ridiculous to nourish hatred towards a building – as if it was the building’s fault that Mike wasn’t there anymore - but it was standing there, blocking the view and being ugly and it was the only target they had now.

“Maybe you should show it to him nonetheless,” Nanaba concluded after they had bad-mouthed the facade for solid 10 minutes.

The Don laughed. “Yeah, probably. But speaking of Levi, do you think that he’s still at the clinic?”

Nanaba glanced at her bracelet watch. “We dropped him off nearly an hour ago, I think he’s still there. Even though Hanji is probably still asleep.” She uttered a sigh. “He’s holding himself in fault for Hanji’s state.”

“Not only therefore. He’s also blaming himself for letting Mike alone in the car,” Erwin said bitterly.

When she heard that, Nanaba’s spirited features were replaced with a sorrowful expression. “He’s such an idiot. Like I’d ever blame him,” she whispered dolefully.

A long silence ensued because Erwin couldn’t find the right words to say anymore. So they kept sitting there and starring at the bleak building across. Finally, Nanaba broke the silence by announcing that she should better leave now.

“Will you be alright on your own?” Erwin asked concerned as he showed her to the door.

“Don’t worry, I just need some time for myself,” Nanaba answered.

When they arrived at the elevator, however, she hesitated pushing the button to call the elevator. Taking a deep breath, she turned on her heel to face the Don. “There’s actually one thing I wanted to ask you…”

“Yes?”

“About the club, uhm … who’ll be in charge of it, now that Mike is gone?”

Considering Erwin’s mien, that question took him entirely by surprise. “I haven’t even thought about this … Somehow, I’ve assumed that you’ll stay there.”

“So, that means … I can have it?” she asked excitedly.

“Of course! As Mike’s first assistant you’re ascending to his rank as Squad Leader anyway.”

“Oh my god. You have no idea how afraid I was that you’ll put someone else in charge of the club,” she admitted with a sigh of relief.

“I don’t think that anyone else could manage all the work,” Erwin laughed.

/

After 3 hours on the uncomfortable wooden chair, Levi decided that he should go home. Hanji’s state remained stable and Pixis had assured Levi that this was a good thing, considering how fatal her injury was. This news wasn’t what Levi wanted to hear though. Of course he was relieved that it didn’t get worse – that she had stayed alive at all – however, the only thing he wanted to hear now was that she was getting better. He couldn’t stand seeing her lying in that huge hospital bad with the cervical collar around her neck and all those tubes that led from the four different bottles directly in her veins.

The surgery had lasted until 2 a.m. and according to one of the nurses, Hanji still hadn’t woken up sine then. Pixis had assured him that this was nothing to be worried about. _‘She needs a rest from the last few days, besides; she just had a complicated surgery.’_

With a last glance at Hanji’s pale – too pale, in Levi’s opinion – face, he stood up and left the room. Instead of going to the elevator though, Levi marched straight up to Pixis’ office. He knocked on the door and entered without waiting for permission.

Pixis looked up from his paperwork. “You’re still here?”

“I’m about to leave,” Levi responded. “I just wanted to ask you how the others are?”

“They’re on the upgrade, except for two. My team is doing everything in our power to save them.”

Levi nodded. “Good. I’ll leave then. If anything happens…”

“Don’t worry,” Pixis interrupted him; “I’ll call you as soon as the woman wakes up.”

/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the shock at the beginning


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She didn’t know for how long she had slept, but the sound of the door being opened, woke her up.
> 
> “Levi?” she asked huskily and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
> 
> “No, it’s not Levi,” a well-known voice said bitterly.

„Urgh, I hate the clean-up,“ Levi said grimly as he sat down on the stool in the club’s cellar.

The ‘ _clean-up’_ was the most annoying part that followed any mission or ‘war’ the Recon Corps had, that reached the public. Levi’s job was to minimize the damage their reputation had suffered. He needed to make sure that the reporters didn’t find out too much about the actual going-on. Furthermore, he had to make sure, that no one finds evidences that the police could link with the Mafia. But since the MP knew that the Corps were involved in _this_ war, the only thing Levi had to take care of, was getting rid of the bodies. For that task, he had hired the Titan Trio; simply because they were the best for such jobs.

“Quit complaining, you actually don’t do anything except ordering others around,” Nanaba reminded him. She was sitting on the stool across. The work surface was covered with small bags, filled with white powder or different pills. Nanaba and her team, composed of Lynne, Henning and Gelgar, were packing the bags into aluminum suitcases for their next big deal.

“Shut up, this time I actually did the stuff myself,” Levi said annoyed and reached for one of the empty suitcases. “Normally my squad would take care of it, but since Gunther is the only one left I had to help him.” 

Nanaba looked up from her work. “You still haven’t formed your new squad?”

“Blondie, I was busy.” Levi’s voice became more annoyed. “Besides, it happened just a few days ago.”

“I thought you’d take the Titan Trio under your command,” Henning brought up before his new Squad Leader and the Levi would start a real fight.

For a second, Levi stopped his halfhearted packing-motions and gave the man a confused look. “Are you for real?”

“I just … Well, they seem to obey orders they get from you,” Henning said with a flustered face.

“Of course they obey, I’m ranks above them,” Levi said irritated. “But I just can’t imagine working with them as closely as with my former squad. I’d probably hang myself after a whole day with Braun.” He thought about Rainer’s smug complacency and the perilous driving skills. Seriously, the only thing bigger than his muscles was his ridiculous ego. Rainer was an excellent soldier, yes – but he was a person that Levi could only tolerate for a short-limited time.

They finished the packing mostly in silence. After that, Nanaba dismissed her team and she stayed with Levi in the basement, to stack the suitcases in a corner of the room, since Levi wouldn’t allow them to stay scattered over the workplace.

“Did you hear anything about Hanji’s state?”, Nanaba asked while they were moving back and forth in the room.

“Pixis told me that she was awake in the morning.”

“Did you visit her?”

“Yes,” he said, picking up the last suitcase. “But I went there before I came here and at that time she was sleeping. Maybe I’ll stop by later.”

“Hmm,” Nanaba hummed as Levi put the suitcase down on the others. “How about a non-alcoholic drink first, then we could visit her together?”

“Non-alcoholic? And that coming from you!” Levi said teasingly. “But yeah, we can do that.”

/

On her tenth day in hospital, Pixis finally approved that Hanji could get freed from all the infusions and instruments. The cervical collar had to stay for a little longer, but at least Hanji was now able to get out of the bed. She didn’t move around a lot, since she was still very tired, but at least she could go to the bathroom by herself.

Ever since she had woken up, Levi was visiting her every day. Sometimes, he’d even come by two or three times a day. Sometimes, Nanaba or Gunther were with him, sometimes he’d come alone. He and Nanaba had told her the whole story about the Recon Corps’ war against the Organization, including all the deaths and how she ended up here. The thing that shocked Hanji the most was to find out that Mike was dead. In her short time as Corps member, she had grown very fond of the gentle blonde, who’d always make sure she had everything she needed for work and that she never had to go home alone. It made Hanji sad, that she couldn’t have attended the funeral, to bid goodbye to Mike for a last time.

Another thing that Hanji had learnt in the last days was that the Don had lost his arm. Erwin had to attend therapies at the clinic twice a week and he had visited Hanji afterwards. Also, it was Erwin, who had told Hanji, that Levi blamed himself for her current state.

“So that’s the reason he looks at me like I was a ghost,” she said, oddly amused. “I guess it was completely my fault for not taking the gun with me.”

Erwin let out a small laugh. “I can only imagine how funny this look is." He paused for a few seconds. "Quite another matter, though, are you still staying at the Corps?” His mien got serious again.

“Hmm? I actually haven’t thought about that,” Hanji said, taken by surprise.

“Well, you’ve experienced the worst side of the Mafioso life. But you should probably concentrate more on getting fit again,” the Don said. “I’ll be going then. Take your time and think about it.”

After Erwin was gone, Hanji let herself fall back on the bed with a loud sigh. The Don’s question had taken her by surprise. Actually, she hadn’t thought about the possibility of leaving the Corps. She had assumed that she had to go back to her work, once they’d dismiss her from hospital. But Smith made it sound like she could actually choose what she wanted to do next. ‘ _You’ve experienced the worst side of the mafia life_.’ But what did he mean with worst side; nearly getting killed, or did he thought of the terror and pain of being kidnapped by the enemy?

 _But didn’t they kill anyone, who wanted to back out?_ Hanji thought about Dr. Jaeger, because that was the reason they’ve killed him after all, wasn’t it? For a second, the woman wondered whether it was Levi who had done it. Because, as Hanji could recall, he had told her that his squad was keeping the members under control. Was the whole ‘ _you can choose what you want to do_ ’-thing a trap and she’d end up like her precursor if she made the wrong decision? Would Levi be the one who’d have to eliminate her then?

“Urgh, I hate this!” The more she thought about the situation, the worse her headache got. Finally, Hanji decided that the best solution was to ask Levi about all this stuff. Contented with her idea, she took the pill from her night stand beside the bed. It was a painkiller; the nurse had left for Hanji to take whenever she felt the need to. She swallowed it with some water and laid back down. Her gaze was fixed on the ceiling, as she slowly felt the drug's effect; a soothing numbness spreading through her body. Eventually, Hanji’s eyelids gave in and she drifted away in a dreamless sleep.

/

She didn’t know for how long she had slept, but the sound of the door being opened, woke her up.

“Levi?” she asked huskily and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“No, it’s not Levi,” a well-known voice said bitterly.

The sound of it, made all the doziness in Hanji’s body disappear and she jerked up into a sitting position, the quick motion making her head spin.

“M-Moblit?” she asked disbelievingly. “What are you doing here? … with Nifa?”

/


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... and her decision required a sacrifice she had to take, even if it broke her heart.

The sight of Hanji broke Moblits heart. It was horrible to see her sitting there in this stupid hospital with a neck brace and scratches and bruises all over her arms. Moblit could only guess that the bruises didn’t stop on her arms and continued down over her whole body. _What on earth happened to her?_

“What the hell happened to you?”, Nifa gave voice to Moblit’s thoughts.

“What are you guys doing here?”, Hanji asked puzzled.

Nifa eyed her as if she had lost her mind. “We heard that you’re in hospital, and we came to see you. What happened? How did you end up here?”

Hanji, wittingly or unwittingly, reached up to her neck, as if she wanted to cover it. “It’s nothing,” she said with an unusual tone in her voice. It was like all the kindness and happiness she had possessed was gone and Moblit had never seen her behave like that. She seemed broken, and if it was for Moblit, he would have left her alone at this moment because he didn’t want to be the reason for her anger. Nifa was merciless tough.

“Were you involved in the accident with the Mafia?”, she asked severely.

“Wha- What gives you that idea?”, Hanji asked back, her voice losing its bite though.

“Hanji, this clinic is rumoured to be in their property,” Moblit piped up nervously and Nifa nodded in confirmation.

Hanji gave them both a killing glance, which terrified Moblit. It shocked him, that she still looked like the woman he loved, only her eyes were cold. They seemed to have lost all desire to live Hanji had had months ago. She looked the same, and yet, Moblit had a completely different woman in front of him.

“Hanji,” he started slowly. “We’re - I am – worried that you’re getting yourself in danger.”

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself,” she responded angrily.

“That guy is a Mafioso, isn’t he?”

“That’s none of your damn business!”

At this moment, Moblit could feel the tension in the room. And the worst thing was: her reaction confirmed his grave concerns.

“Hanji,” he tried again. “Look, I’m not asking you to come back to me, but please, please don’t do this to yourself. A man who allows that this happens to you isn’t worth you. I’m sure that it’s not too late to back off. We can help you. We can go to the police together. Please, don’t let a criminal ruin your life. He isn’t worth your –“ he balked. “He isn’t worth having you.”

He saw how Hanji closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she exhaled, she opened them again and set them on Moblit.

“What the hell do you know!” she yelled, her voice cracking.

Exactly two seconds later, the door flew open. A short guy with black hair stood in the door with a glowering mien. He was dressed completely in black, with a worn out leather jacket and biker boots. _Was this -?_

“What the hell is going on here?” he asked and Moblit cringed at the angry sound of his voice. The man’s look wandered from Nifa to Moblit and if looks could kill, Moblit was sure that he’d be dead the exact moment that guy’s eyes met his.

His gaze brake away from Moblit and the anger changed into concern. “Oi, Hanji. Are you alright?”

/

Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. Hanji felt all 6 pairs of eyes fixed on her, as well as a strong need to plainly disappear. “I …” she didn’t even know what to say, it was too much for her. No, she wasn’t alright. She desperately tried to gasp for air.

“Hanji,” Levi said calmly as he stepped in the room and approached her. “Stay calm, ok?” He put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Slowly, breathe in.” And she did as he told her. “And now out. Repeat what I’m doing,” he said and he stood there in front of her, showing her how to breathe with such a concern in his eyes. Hanji copied his actions until their breathings were somewhat simultaneous. She kept staring at him and it seemed like the world around them had vanished, it was just Levi and her, breathing. And looking in his eyes, she wondered how she could have ever doubted the decision she had made. Wondered, how she could have thought that he’d ever kill her.

“Everything alright now?” he asked.

“Take me home,” she whispered.

/

Levi let out a sigh of relief.

The moment he had stepped inside the room and seen that guy, Levi couldn’t have helped, but to feel anxious. He was afraid, that Hanji would regret her choice after her encounter with the Organization. He was afraid, that she’d wish for her old, normal life back, once she had seen her ex. _Who could blame her though?_

But she didn’t want to go back to that guy. “I’ll ask Dot,” he promised and turned around to leave the room. As he passed Moblit, he made sure to throw him a poisonous glare.

/

“So, you’re choosing him after all?” Moblit asked disbelievingly.

“I made this choice the moment I agreed to work for them,” she answered with a low voice.

“But what about-“

“Please, just let it be.”

“Moblit,” this time Nifa was the one to speak. “We should go.”

“But-“

“Listen to reason! This is not the Hanji you’ve known, don’t you see it yourself?” Her words were hard and cold. Her words hurt Hanji, but she carried it off well. Hanji knew that she couldn’t have both worlds and her decision required a sacrifice she had to take, even if it broke her heart.

/

In the end, Pixis had agreed that Hanji could leave the clinic. She only had to keep the collar, and show up for check-ups regularly. Now, they were lying next to each other on Levi’s couch.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Hmm?”

“If I had decided to leave the Mafia, after all that … I would get killed, right?”

Levi sat up with an irritated mien. He looked down at Hanji. “Yes,” he said bluntly. That were the rules, and she knew them as good as he did.

Her mien got serious as she looked up to him with her big hazel eyes. “Would you be the one to do it?”

“Do what? Kill you?” he asked irritated.

“Mhm.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m curious,” she stated.

Levi let out a sigh. He looked down at her and actually gave it a thought. Would he have been able to do it? “I guess I wouldn’t be able to do so,” he said, surprisingly earnest. “Wipe that smug grin off your face four-eyes, I’d just order someone else to do it.”

Hanji started laughing. “You wouldn’t have the heart to do it.”

Levi covered her mouth with his hand and leaned closer to her face. “Wanna test me?”

Due to the fact that her mouth was covered, Hanji couldn’t answers. However, there was this amused sparkle in her eyes, which he had missed so much.

“Promise me one thing though,” he said and removed his hand. “When you get the collar removed, you’ll let me show you how to use guns. Just for self-defence,” Levi added as he saw her shocked expression. He knew exactly that she was thinking she would have to kill someone.

She bit her lip. “Okay.”

Contented with her answer, he lied back down next to her. “I’ll have to work tomorrow,” he said after a while. “If you want, I can drop you off at Nanaba’s place before, so you won’t have to be alone.”

“That’d be nice,” she remarked with a smile.

After that, both fell silent and it didn’t take long, until Hanji fell asleep next to him. Carefully, not to wake her up, Levi stood up and went to fetch a blanket from his bedroom to tuck her in.

Afterwards, he stepped out on the balcony and lightened up a cigarette. As he stood there and watched the smoke get blown away by the wind, he recalled the past weeks. It surely had happened a lot, but now that he was thinking about it, it wasn’t much different from their ‘ _normal’_ working routine. After all, it wasn’t the first time they’ve ended up in a war, or had a team-member being kidnapped. The only difference this time was that Levi had his feelings involved. He turned around and leaned against the balcony rail. He saw Hanji lying on his couch through the glass door and he smiled unwittingly. This time, she had decided to stay by his side and Levi wondered if she’ll still think the same way, when she would find out, that all the shit she had gone through was normal for a Mafioso. 

Levi decided that, for the time being, he won’t think about it any longer. There were other, more important things to take care of. He put out his cigarette and stepped inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the story! :) 
> 
> If you have any comments or constructive feedback, you can always contact me.


End file.
